


sunshine & the mess we're in

by junghomobi (bartsugsy)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Are there any other pining tags available because I need to use all of them, Established Kim Seokjin | Jin/Kim Taehyung | V, I'm Sorry to the Seventeens for what I've done here, I'm not sorry for the use of the phrase Bad Tan Hotel, Idiots in Love, Joshua Hong is from LA and so treated accordingly, Love Confessions, M/M, Miscommunication, Mostly I'm sorry to Joshua Hong, Mutual Pining, Pining, Rating May Change, They all work at a hotel and keep hooking up with one another as gay people are wont to do
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:53:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 42,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25021219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bartsugsy/pseuds/junghomobi
Summary: Jung Hoseok has been in love with Park Jimin for as long as he can remember. Actually, more specifically, Hoseok has been in love with him for 3 years, since Jimin first started working as a children’s entertainer at the Bad Tan Hotel, where Hoseok is Head Bartender.When their friends/coworkers, Seokjin and Taehyung, decide to get married at the hotel, it's all hands on deck to make sure they have the wedding of their dreams. However, when the wedding planner turns out to be Jimin’s ex-boyfriend and worse, seems intent on getting Jimin back, Hoseok has a choice to make.Hoseok has seven days until the wedding. Seven days to tell Jimin how he feels, or risk losing him forever.
Relationships: Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Kim Mingyu, Jeon Jungkook/Kim Namjoon | RM/Min Yoongi | Suga, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Park Jimin
Comments: 26
Kudos: 50





	1. Monday

**Author's Note:**

> I've lovingly been calling this fic 'The Horny Jihope Summer AU', so I hope that tells you everything you need to know about the nonsense that's about to ensue. 
> 
> You really don't need to know anything at all about Seventeen to read this fic - I've tried to really make it as accessible as possible (and honestly I've taken some real liberties with their personalities), but honestly, life is better when u stan Seventeen. That said, to the Seventeens, particularly Joshua Hong, I'm sorry.
> 
> This is dedicated to all the armycarats. Congrats on your perfect taste.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Mingyu's first day at the Bad Tan Hotel. A visitor arrives. Hoseok, Yoongi and Namjoon make a decision.

**MONDAY**

**_7 Days Until The Wedding_ **

**_\--_ **

**_At least he didn’t call it ‘Fuck Me Park Jimin’_ **

The sun is shining, the blue water of the hotel pool is splashing lightly in the gentle breeze, and Park Jimin is holding Hoseok’s hand. As far as Hoseok is concerned, this makes everything right with the world.

“Hyung, does my horse look ok?” Jungkook says. He’s seated at one of the tables by the pool bar, chalk in hand, staring at their daily Specials board. Hoseok loves Jungkook. Jungkook shows up to the Tiki Bar every morning without fail, even on the days he doesn’t have a shift, just to design the Specials board. It always looks incredible, Jungkook is an artist. Hoseok is lucky to have such a dedicated and talented employee. However, while he is sitting at that table staring sullenly at the presumable horse he has likely drawn perfectly and asking Hoseok to stop holding Jimin’s hand and stop staring into Jimin’s eyes to pass judgement upon it, Hoseok hates him just a little.

Jimin smiles at Hoseok. 

Hoseok smiles back.

“ _Hyung!_ ”

Hoseok sighs and pulls away from Jimin, walks around the bar to look. The horse is indeed incredible; a stylised cartoon complete with a little cowboy hat on its horse head. It’s incredibly cute and it makes Hoseok feel happy. Jimin comes to stand behind Hoseok and leans his chin against Hoseok’s shoulder.

“It’s amazing, Jungkookie,” Jimin says. “Is that my cocktail, hyung?”

The specials board has a number of cocktails on there, but right at the bottom and inspiring Jungkook’s beautiful horse cartoon is the cocktail that Hoseok has created for Jimin that day.

_“Ride me like a cowboy (whiskey, ginger beer, soda, lemon juice).”_

It’s a thing they do. Every day, Jimin drops by the bar and leans over it and smiles at Hoseok and every day, Hoseok asks him what cocktail he wants. Jimin says something - an ingredient, or a word, anything he wants - and Hoseok takes that and turns it into a drink they can sell. Jungkook creates most of the cocktails, but Hoseok always, always makes Jimin’s. That morning, Jimin had sauntered over to the bar, moved between the sun loungers and the pool and made his way to Hoseok. When he had reached the bar itself, he had leaned over and moved his face directly into Hoseok’s space.

“I want _whiskey_ ,” he had said.

Hoseok had dropped what he was doing and turned to face Jimin immediately.

“Whiskey?”

“Yes, _whiskey_.”

“Why do you keep saying ‘whiskey’ like that?” Jungkook had said. 

“I’m not saying it in any way.”

“Yes you are-”

“Stop arguing,” Hoseok had interrupted. “If Jiminie wants whiskey then that’s what Jiminie gets.”

The smile Jimin had given Hoseok was big and Hoseok can still feel it an hour later, as guests are starting to slowly gather around the pool, laying their towels out, a few tentatively stepping into the cold of the pool.

The Tiki Bar is the singular bar at _The Bad Tan Hotel_ -not actually the hotel’s name, but the staff are so relentless that Hoseok sometimes forgets its real name is _The Grand Sand_. It exists at the top of the large outdoor pool, surrounded by small chairs and tables and sun loungers and it overlooks the large outside dining space and the entertainment stage. It has a straw roof and torches of fire and it’s stocked with more kinds of spirit than most people know exist. Hoseok has spent four years managing the bar, seven years working at it and to this day, he still loves it more than anything. 

Well. Almost anything.

Hoseok thinks that perhaps he has loved Park Jimin for as long as he can remember. Or rather, for three years, since the day Jimin started working at the _Bad Tan_ as a children’s entertainer. He can still remember it; hot summer, Hoseok’s tank top sticking to his back, cap backwards on his head, sunglasses on his nose and Jimin, following Min Yoongi around, looking soft and nervous and _unspeakably_ beautiful.

Yoongi had introduced them - ‘ _Hoseok, this is Park Jimin, he’s working for me, today’s his first day. Jimin, this is Jung Hoseok, he’s the Head Bartender, he’s nice, be friends with him_ ’ - and Hoseok had stared into Jimin’s eyes and that was it, heart flying out of his body and soaring straight into Jimin’s hands.

“Hyung, this might be the dirtiest one yet,” Jimin says. He’s staring at the cocktail board and he’s giggling.

“That’s not true, he invented a _Blow Job_ for you last week,” Jungkook says, shaking the Specials board vigorously to dislodge any loose chalk dust.

Jimin laughs even harder and has to lean into Hoseok to stay standing. 

Hoseok can see some of the guests looking, so he shoves Jimin back very slightly, then walks back around the bar to continue drying glasses.

“I like the horse, Jungkook-ah.” Mingyu says.

Kim Mingyu is Hoseok’s newest bartender. Hoseok isn’t sure Mingyu has ever even tasted a cocktail before, but he had smiled at Hoseok during the interview and Hoseok had found himself offering Mingyu the job on the spot, so here they are. Mingyu moves around to help Jungkook lift the Specials board to hang it - an act that is wholly unnecessary but sweet nonetheless and makes Hoseok happy that he hired him. Mingyu is nice and Hoseok loves being surrounded by nice people. He figures that Jungkook can teach Mingyu the rest.

Jungkook smiles a huge and warm smile at Mingyu, then drags him back around the bar to continue showing him the basics. Hoseok watches them distractedly for a moment, until he feels a finger poking one of his hands.

“Thank you for the cocktail, husband,” Jimin says, quiet enough that only Hoseok can hear it. He’s leaning across the bar again, just like he does every day and it’s so effortlessly sexy, he looks like a fucking model. Hoseok feels like he’s having an entire crisis about the way Jimin leans on things. 

He picks up the hand that Jimin is poking and brings it to Jimin’s hair, twists a strand of it around his finger. Jimin has dyed his hair a bold and bright pink and it looks incredible. Every hair colour looks incredible on Jimin. He tugs the pink strand a little.

“You’re welcome. You look amazing.”

A blush spreads a little up Jimin’s cheeks, barely there but Hoseok notices it immediately.

“Ohhhh, _you_ look amazing,” Jimin says quietly, reaching out to brush the back of two fingers down Hoseok’s chest, over his heartbeat. 

“Ohhh,” he says, much louder and he’s laughing. Everything about Jimin makes him laugh. Jimin could stand still in one spot and it would make Hoseok happy enough that he laughs. “Ohhh, Jimin-ah.”

\--

**_Luckily Seokjin’s parents are loaded_ **

Taehyung can’t sit still.

He’s sitting on Seokjin’s desk - his fiancé, his _fiancé’s_ desk - but he’s bouncing up and down. He keeps rapping his knuckles against the wood and Seokjin keeps hitting him in the thigh to get him to stop as he tries to speak to one of the hotel suppliers on the phone, but Taehyung thinks if he stops moving, he might explode.

Seokjin hangs up his call eventually and pinches him on the hip gently.

“Some of us have work, Taehyung-ah.”

“I’m _excited._ ”

“Me too,” Seokjin says and his voice is very soft and that makes Taehyung stop fidgeting so that he can smile down at Seokjin’s beautiful face instead. He reaches over and strokes a hand down his cheek.

“I feel like there should be so much more to do. We’re getting married in seven days.”

“Isn’t that why we’re spending an unholy amount of money on a wedding planner? So that we don’t have to do anything?”

“Hyung, you know I couldn’t have made the theme come alive by myself.”

“You can do anything you put your mind to.” Seokjin doesn’t really sound like he’s paying attention; he’s looking at his computer screen and typing something loudly. Taehyung feels bolstered all the same.

“I know. I know I could have sourced the cambodian wood canoe myself if I needed to, but the planner already had the connections. It saved so much time.”

“Is that why he costs more than our car?”

“Hyung, this is important.”

“I know. I’m sorry, I’m glad you’re happy. Plus, we got a killer discount on the venue.” Seokjin grins.

“Isn’t it romantic? We both work at the Bad Tan, we met here, we fell in love here-”

“I was your boss here-”

“Yoongi-hyung’s my boss, not you.”

“I’m Yoongi’s boss.” Seokjin rolls his eyes. He’s trying to keep a smile off his face, Taehyung can tell. 

“I work in children’s entertainment hyung, you source shampoo.” Taehyung says. Unlike Seokjin, he doesn’t try to suppress his smile, just looks down at Seokjin with a grin so big that he can feel it stretch out his cheeks. He doesn’t need to smile necessarily, for Seokjin to know that he’s joking, but Taehyung’s made it his life’s mission to make sure Seokjin never feels less than completely appreciated in all aspects of his life and he’s not about to risk that now over an opportunity to flirt. 

“I’m head of Guest Services!” Seokjin says, loudly. The grin is gone, Seokjin’s too good at pretending to be insulted. Good enough that it would probably fool anyone else, Taehyung thinks. Taehyung just wants to kiss him.

“You’re cute when you’re angry.”

“Weren’t you talking about how romantic our wedding is going to be?”

“Oh yes.” He gets a little thrill again, gets a thrill every time he thinks about it. Seven days and he’ll finally be the husband of Mr Kim Seokjin. “We fell in love here, hyung.”

“I know.”

Seokjin smiles finally and Taehyung cracks; he leans down, weight supported on one hand, other hand at Seokjin’s face, tilting his chin up, to bring their lips together in a kiss that starts off gentle but ends in laughter as Seokjin presses up hard and enthusiastically.

“I love you.”

“Then why won’t you let me work. These shampoos aren’t going to order themselves.” Seokjin shifts his notepad around dramatically to make his point.

“It’s not my fault I don’t work on Mondays!”

“You could go down there anyway! Yoongi and Jimin may need a hand!”

“Why would I work when I could spend time with you?”

Seokjin throws a paperclip at his head.

“Ow. What if Joshua Hong walked in and saw you doing that? He might fire us on the spot.”

“He can’t fire us, I’ve paid him the equivalent of rent for a four person family home just to do this.” 

“ _Hyung._ ”

“I know, he gave you a cambodian wood canoe. You deserve _ten_ cambodian wood canoes.”

“Thank you.”

“What did you say his full name was? Joshua Hong? Is he American?”

A breeze sweeps through the room suddenly. The door opens with a bang and bounces off the wall. Daylight sweeps in, poured from the large windows opposite Seokjin’s office door and through the open frame, around the dark silhouette of a man.

“I’m from LA.”

\--

**_Much like Santa, Joshua Hong is coming to town_ **

“Are you excited for the wedding?” Jimin says, dropping his hand down to the smooth surface of the bar. Hoseok drops his hand too from where it’s still wrapped around Jimin’s hair, picks up the glasses he had been slowly rinsing and drying.

He nods and smiles.

“I can’t believe they’re getting married in a week,” he says. He giggles at the thought of it. “I can’t believe they’re getting married at the _hotel._ ”

Jimin looks around at the bar and the pool. 

“I wonder how they’re going to design it?”

“The wedding planner is coming today to talk about it.”

“He is?”

“Mm. I’ve got to meet him to discuss drinks.”

“Wow. Not even Taehyungie has met him yet.” Jimin says. He traces a finger through a small puddle of water on the bar and Hoseok watches it, feels a little entranced. “Taehyung says that he’s done everything over an app called Google Hangouts.”

“Oh. Is that normal?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, he’s coming today.”

“Seven days before the wedding?” Jimin looks sceptical, if not entirely judgemental.

“I think he’s staying at the hotel for the whole week.”

“Ah, Hoseokie-hyung, it’s so cool that you get to contribute to their wedding. You’re in charge of drinks and Namjoon is singing for them and Jun is cooking for them. I wish I could do something.” Jimin sounds frustrated and Hoseok doesn’t think he should find it as cute as he does.

“You’re the best man,” Jungkook says. Hoseok looks behind him; Jungkook is midway through tossing a cocktail shaker in the air, it spins and lands upside down in his hands so that it starts pouring perfectly into the glass waiting below it. Mingyu is watching him with wide, unbelieving eyes.

“Don’t feel like you have to do that,” Hoseok warns Mingyu. 

“It’s so _cool_.”

“Ah, really?” Jungkook says. He’s balancing the newly poured drink on the back of his hand and bouncing it up and down in the air. He doesn’t spill one drop. 

“ _So_ cool.”

“Jungkook is world-famous for his cocktails,” Jimin says, smiling.

“Really?” Mingyu’s eyes grow even wider. He looks a little like he’s forgotten how to breathe.

“People keep emailing me asking if they can hire him,” Hoseok says, back to cleaning his glasses once more.

“But don’t worry, I told Hoseok-hyung that I don’t ever want to leave.” Jungkook smiles and it’s so cute that Hoseok has to put his glasses down and give him a hug. Jungkook is in the middle of setting a drink on fire. He throws the martini glass up gracefully and catches it with his other hand, so that he has an arm free to hug Hoseok back.

“Jungkookie, so cute,” Hoseok says into the top of Jungkook’s head, then moves back so that Jungkook can go back to creating his flaming drink.

“Doesn’t this place have a straw roof?” Mingyu says. He looks concerned.

“Don’t worry, Jungkookie would never set the bar on fire.” Hoseok assures him happily.

“Yeah, didn’t you hear what we said? Jungkook is world famous. He’s the best cocktail maker in the world.” Jimin says. He gives Mingyu a hard, accusatory stare. Mingyu doesn’t seem to notice, too busy staring at the sudden wall of flames falling hypnotically in front of Jungkook.

Jungkook puts the cocktail down and a pink and purple flame moves upwards and then disappears entirely, leaving a sparkling pink cocktail in its wake.

“This is called _The Magic of Kim Mingyu_ ,” Jungkook says, pushing the drink towards Mingyu. “I’ll put it on the Specials board.”

“It’s 9am, you don’t have to drink that,” Hoseok says, suddenly concerned that Mingyu is going to feel pressured into necking a cocktail that contains two shots of vodka (served with lemon, soda water and raspberry juice, garnished with a sprig of mint). 

He hears a gulp and turns around again to see Mingyu holding a now empty glass and looking guilty.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“That’s ok. It’s ok.” 

“Mingyu-ah, did you like it?” Jungkook asks. He sounds thrilled.

“I could drink like _ten_ of these, dude.”

Jimin is laughing next to him and Hoseok can feel his breath on the side of his face. It makes Hoseok feel warm all over.

“Hoseokie-hyung!” Taehyung’s voice comes suddenly from out of nowhere, carries across the pool, sounding as airy and happy as it usually does.

Hoseok looks up. Jimin turns around in his bar stool and promptly drops his phone onto the hard concrete of the floor.

“Oh!” Hoseok darts around to help Jimin pick up his phone, only Jimin hasn’t moved from his seat; he’s instead staring at Taehyung and the man walking beside him. 

“ _Park Jimin_.”

“What are you doing here?” Jimin says. His voice sounds furious, the kind of furious Jimin gets when someone is mean to one of his friends, or tries to imply that there’s anyone Taehyung loves more.

“Well, Jin-hyung had to work, so I’m showing-”

“Not you, Taehyung-ah, you’re always welcome here,” Jimin says sweetly. “ _Him._ ” He points at the man standing next to Taehyung - a man who is currently typing furiously on his phone, face passive. Slowly, the man looks up and stares directly at Jimin. Hoseok feels, out of nowhere, a shiver run down his spine.

“I’m the wedding planner, bro.”

Jimin looks at Taehyung.

“ _He’s_ your wedding planner?” Jimin says. He sounds outraged. 

“Of course he is, Jimin-ah. He’s a genius,” Taehyung says. “We’ve been working together for months, you know that.” He sounds a little hurt that Jimin would forget.

“No! No, you never mentioned his name. You always just called him _that_ , right there! Your ‘genius wedding planner’.”

“I definitely mentioned his name at least once…” Taehyung says. He sounds so unsure that Hoseok immediately knows he’s wrong. 

“No, I would have remembered if you’d turned around and said to me, ‘oh Jiminie I’m working with a new wedding planner called Joshua _fucking_ Hong.’”

“Ah, I’ve missed you screaming my name,” Joshua says. He says it with an unsettling lack of emotion but it still sounds so suggestive that Hoseok feels something rise in his chest a little. He looks back down at the surface he’s wiping and sprays some more disinfectant to distract himself.

“Don’t talk to me,” Jimin says, staring straight at Joshua. “I don’t fraternise with _psychopaths_.” 

“I think that might be offensive to the mental health community…” Joshua’s voice trails off as Jimin gets out of his chair and stomps around to the other side of the bar. He stands behind Jungkook and Mingyu. Jungkook stares at Jimin, eyes wide. Mingyu stares directly at Joshua. 

“We used to date,” Joshua says, looking at Hoseok. He winks, then pushes the sunglasses that are perched on top of his head down to cover his eyes. He has some form of a smile on his face but it's lifeless almost, like an imitation of a smile by someone who doesn’t know how to do it. Hoseok gets an sudden inappropriate caveman urge to punch him in the face, then is immediately glad that no one around him can read his mind.

“You did? You didn’t tell me that, Jiminie.” Taehyung says. He sounds hurt, just a little. 

“It was before we met. Five years ago. He had just moved here from LA.” Jimin yells from where he’s hidden behind Hoseok’s bartenders. “Worst time of my LIFE.”

“The sex was great though, wasn’t it? Really hot. I’m _great_ in bed.” Joshua says. He’s still staring over at Jimin with a _look_ in his eyes and Hoseok’s not blind, he knows what that look means. It’s a look that says he’s imagining the sex. Hoseok gets his own unwanted flash of it, Jimin under Joshua’s body, Jimin moaning, Joshua doing his weird fake smile thing and saying “ _please, more_ ” in a scary, monotonous voice. Hoseok wonders errantly if he might be able to drown himself in his own bar sink. 

He clears his throat.

“Oh. Yes. Bar person,” Joshua says flatly.

Hoseok looks up at Joshua. His heart is beating so hard in his chest that it feels uncomfortable.

“His name is Hoseok-hyung.” Taehyung supplies.

“Great. Let’s discuss wedding drinks tomorrow. Tae-Tae says you specialise in cocktails?” No one has ever used the nickname Tae-Tae in such an emotionless way, Hoseok thinks. Is this how people from LA talk?

“Jungkookie is the best cocktail maker in the world,” Taehyung says emphatically. He turns to Hoseok. “I’ll check with Seokjin-hyung when he gets home tonight, but I think he’ll like the idea of wedding cocktails.” 

Hoseok can only nod wordlessly.

“Cool. So tomorrow. 6am work for you? Great.” Joshua says.

Hoseok blinks.

“Ok, let’s go find Junhui,” Taehyung says, looping his arm around Joshua’s neck. Joshua stares at Hoseok, then moves his gaze to the back of the bar. To where Jimin is standing.

“Taehyungie, please tell your _friend_ he won’t be missed!” Jimin yells again. It makes Hoseok’s heart ache a little, that yelling. 

“Jimin-ah, I can’t do that. I love you!” Taehyung says.

“I’ll see _you_ later,” Joshua says, still looking towards the back of the bar, voice meaningful, filled with the promise of terrible, terrible things. Like sex. Hoseok thinks he might be having the first real crisis of his adult life.

Taehyung and Joshua leave finally, presumably making their way to the kitchens to meet with Junhui, the hotel Head Chef. Jimin makes some loud huffy noises and then leaves too, says that he’s late for his shift and loudly mutters about it being Joshua’s fault as he goes. He doesn’t say goodbye.

Jungkook immediately goes back to teaching Mingyu the basics of the bar. Hoseok stares at them for a moment; Mingyu looks a little dazed. Hoseok gets it, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by Jungkook’s talent sometimes. 

They seem to have things under control between the two of them, which is good, because Hoseok needs to _leave._

His head hurts. It hurts. Is this what a migraine feels like? How does a person know if what they’re experiencing is a migraine? Do migraines also make a person’s heart hurt? He’s a fucking mess.

It’s just. Just.

Hoseok has loved Jimin for three years. He’s never said it, has no idea how to, can’t find the part of human brains that purportedly exist to put feelings into words and give a person the insane courage to bare their fucking soul to anyone they so choose. He loves Jimin but he’s never tried to pursue something with Jimin, or to tell Jimin, or anything. He just exists in Jimin’s space as much as Jimin allows him to and that’s _always_ been enough, it’s always been just enough.

He’s never tried to tell Jimin about his feelings, because if he does and it goes badly, what then? Or worse, if he does and it goes right, what _then_? 

But he’s never been confronted with… this. With someone turning up and clearly having… intentions towards Jimin. Someone who Jimin has dated before and it’s a fine line between love and hate, isn’t it? Jimin puts up so many layers of bravado sometimes and Hoseok just knows that all the yelling and name-calling might just be to cover up the fact that Jimin is interested in Joshua too. Jimin could rant and yell at a person for days on end but at the end of it all, that never necessarily rules out the possibility for something _more_.

Fuck.

He’s losing his mind.

Hoseok is losing his mind. All he knows is that he has loved Jimin for years and never told him, but now Joshua is here and is practically presenting himself to Jimin on a plate. If Joshua tells Jimin he’s interested then… then maybe Hoseok loses his chance forever.

And ok, Jimin may not want Hoseok and that’s fine, but… how can Hoseok ever really know if he doesn’t ask? What if Joshua makes a move and Hoseok ends up wondering forever, stuck in a fantasy of what could have been whilst Joshua plans _their_ wedding?

Hoseok is walking away from the building as fast as he possibly can, towards the staff apartments. At some point walking stops being enough and he starts _sprinting_ , just starts tearing his way across the hot tarmac.

Hoseok doesn’t know much, has never known much of anything for certain in life, but he knows one thing very suddenly and with absolute crystal clear clarity.

He has to tell Jimin he loves him. And he has to do it this week. 

\--

**_The debatable longevity of ‘Hoes Before Bros’_ **

It cannot be said that Min Yoongi hates his job.

Sure, he’s not a world famous musician. Sure he spends his days teaching ten-year-olds the same three dances over and over. Sure, he has to dress up in an imitation Snoopy costume once a week because Jimin and Taehyung won’t do it. But he doesn’t hate his job.

This is what he tells himself as he surveys the room full of energetic children. Jimin is letting them chase him around as he waves a flag in the air. He looks delighted. Park Jimin was made to be a children’s entertainer; he loves children. Yoongi _also_ loves children, in theory. Children are the future. Really wonderful. Just great. It’s just that if someone offered to replace all the yelling children with, perhaps, pillows he could lay his head on, or baby grand pianos he could sit and play for a few hours, he’d maybe have a hard time saying no.

At least he gets to DJ the Saturday night disco. His favourite time of the week is that three hour slot each Saturday night where he can try to move people with music. Or field non-stop requests for ABBA.

This morning had been the same as most mornings. He had set up the room for the kids group, a glorified day care centre that allowed the adult guests of the hotel to deposit their kids for a few hours every day while they sunbathed or had sex or did whatever parents on vacation do when they’re free of the responsibility of parenting. 

The children themselves usually have a nice time; Kids Club gives them a chance to make friends with other kids of similar ages, people to hang out with outside of their boring parents. Jimin, Taehyung and Yoongi teach them dances, run treasure hunts, show them movies and give them access to all the best play areas. Every evening at dinner, they lead the children in performances, or dances, or Yoongi runs around in a huge fursuit they refer to as _Snoppy_ , waving a tambourine. 

Jimin had come running into the room that morning, midway through Yoongi dishing out colouring materials to the kids, 45 minutes late. Which, for Jimin, was pretty early so Yoongi had been pleased. 

“Should we learn a dance? Jimin says now, having finally relinquished his little flag to a particularly perseverant ten year old. He reminds Yoongi of Jungkook, the kid. Not in a creepy way. Not in a like… ok, ten year olds should not be reminding Yoongi of the man he's had a crush on for years. In his defence, the child has big wide eyes and just shoved Jimin to the ground and walked across him to grab the flag from his hands and it had made Yoongi feel so stupidly fond. He makes Yoongi want to text Jungkook.

Yoongi is not much of a texter and Jungkook is also not much of a texter so this is a horrible idea and not something Yoongi has any plans on following through on but… but it could be something incredible.

There’s a romance to it, he thinks; he could send Jungkook a text, _hi_ , and Jungkook would reply. _Hi hyung, how are you_. Yoongi would say _I’m staring at a child with the strongest will and determination to win and I’m thinking about you, someone who embodies endurance and resoluteness and a fearless sense of self_ and Jungkook would say _Hyung that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me_ and Yoongi would say _I could go on forever. I could think about you forever_ and Jungkook would say _Maybe I’d let you_.

This, of course, does not happen. His fingers itch; he’s not really one for writing love songs but sometimes he thinks about Jungkook and his fingers just _itch_. He can _hear_ the stupid beautiful melody of it. 

He sighs. He doesn’t text Jungkook.

He does pick up his phone so that he can stare at it dramatically for a moment. Jimin has the children enraptured, as he always does whenever he dances, so Yoongi can take a moment for himself just to do this. 

He’s surprised when he switches his phone screen on to find a series of texts from Hoseok. He scrolls through them, eyebrows climbing progressively higher up his forehead with each new message.

_I need to tell Jimin how I feel_

_You know, feelings_

_For Jimin_

_I have feelings for Jimin_

_Also ok look at this video I found on twitter of two baby seals hahahaha so funny_

_Also oh my god this pasta looks delicious_

_Hyung can you make me this pasta?_

_Ok no I need to tell Jimin I love him_

_I love Jimin_

_I hate this_

_Hyung help me_

_HIS EX CAME BACK AND KEPT FLIRTING WITH HIM AND IF I DON’T TELL HIM THIS WEEK THEN HOW WILL HE EVEN REALISE THAT I LIKE HIM_

_What if he already knows but he’s ignoring it_

_Hyung you need to come help me_

Yoongi stares at the messages for a few moments, mouth hanging open. 

“Hyung?”

Yoongi looks up and sees Jimin standing over him and immediately does what any grown adult human would do and throws his phone across the room. It slides across the floor and comes to a stop at the door with a soft bump.

Jimin starts laughing immediately, that big whole body laugh that makes him drop to the floor from the power of it.

“What are you _doing?_ ”

“Nothing! You startled me! Don’t sneak up on hyung like that!” Yoongi jumps up and runs over to his phone, picks it up before any of the other kids can think about taking it, clutches it to his chest for security. Jimin is staring at him like he’s grown an extra limb.

“I need to go.”

“What? Hyung-”

“Jimin-ah, you can teach them your dance right?” He takes a breath in, tries to muster some sort of enthusiasm in his voice before speaking to the kids directly. “You guys want to learn Jiminie’s dance right? We can all do it together tonight and make the parents do it too!”

Yoongi is, if he’s being honest with himself, not great at talking enthusiastically to kids at the best of times. Right now he sounds a little unhinged. It’s not his fault. He’s got things on his mind.

Jimin looks ready to argue and Yoongi knows Jimin, knows that if he gives him the inch needed to do this, Jimin will leap on it and hang on, teeth bared and ready to make Yoongi’s life hell. Jimin will berate him for trying to leave, Jimin will absolutely put a movie on for the kids and force Yoongi to sit down and get the truth out of Yoongi by speaking very sincerely and holding Yoongi’s hand. Yoongi is a rock, he’s got an incredible poker face and a mind of steel but he’s also got a weak traitor heart and if Park Jimin holds his hand he’s not sure what he’ll do. 

So instead of letting any of that happen, he runs away. 

The Kids Club is on the other side of the deceptively large hotel complex to the staff apartments. Not all of the staff live onsite, but most do. Yoongi loves spending time alone and having peace and quiet but it’s also an incredible work perk to be able to see his friends whenever he needs to, so he enjoys living in his small apartment. 

Seungcheol, the Head of Staff, had originally given him a bigger apartment closer to the entrance, which meant that Yoongi had had a relatively shorter walk between his bed and the Kids Club, but then an apartment next door to Hoseok had become available and Hoseok had suggested it to Yoongi, joking but eyes alight all the same. So they’re neighbours now.

Yoongi walks straight past his own front door when he finally reaches it and goes directly to Hoseok’s. He knocks on the door, waits and then knocks again. There’s no answer, so he takes a gamble and just walks straight in.

Hoseok is lying on the floor of his small living room, hands over his eyes. It’s incredibly dramatic.

“Hoseok-ah-”

“Hyung, don’t look at me.”

“He’s been lying there for 30 minutes now.”

Yoongi looks up at Namjoon, who walks in from the kitchen carrying two beers.

“It’s 11am, why are you drinking?” Yoongi asks. Namjoon crosses the room and sits down, places one of the bottles by Hoseok’s head.

“No, no, this is a good idea,” Hoseok says, although he doesn’t make a move to pick up the bottle, or indeed get up from the floor.

Yoongi laughs, loud and just a little mean.“You get drunk after half a beer, this isn’t going to help you at all,” he says. He points at Hoseok for a little more emphasis. Hoseok still has his eyes covered by his hands and so does not see the pointing. 

“Hyung, we’re in a time of crisis,” Hoseok says.

“What happened?” Yoongi walks over and sits on the floor by Hoseok’s head. He pats one of Hoseok’s hands a little. “Tell hyung everything.”

“I’m in love with Jimin and so is Joshua Hong.”

“Who is Joshua Hong-”

“Taehyung and Seokjin-hyung’s wedding planner,” Namjoon interrupts. He’s staring at Hoseok with a serious look on his face. “I think you should put yourself out there, bro. This is a good thing.”

“It’s not like I have much of a choice,” Hoseok says darkly. He sits up very suddenly and stares ahead, blinking rapidly. It’s incredibly cute. He sighs, a big and dramatic sigh. It’s a little like he’s facing a death sentence and not a love confession and Yoongi has to clamp down on another laugh.

“I just don’t know how to do it. I’ve never… I’ve never done this before! What if he turns me down?”

“Jimin?” Yoongi says. It’s suddenly impossible not to laugh just a little, at the ridiculousness of it all. “Hoseok-ah, Jimin has been in love with you since he started here.”

Hoseok shoots him a sharp look.

“Has he ever told you that?”  
  
“Well… no, but-”

“If he likes me then why aren’t we together, hyung? Why hasn’t he said anything?”

“Why haven’t you?” Namjoon says pointedly.

Hoseok makes a little whine noise. It’s cute. “Because I don’t _want_ to.”

“OK, so maybe he hasn’t wanted to either,” Namjoon points out. Hoseok nods, blinks a little more and nods again.

“Right. You’re right. Namjoon-ah, you’re so smart,” Hoseok says. He looks over at Namjoon and smiles, big and wide.

“I’m smart too.” Yoongi says, because he doesn’t like to be left out.

Hoseok gets up suddenly, starts pacing up and down the small space between the front door and the coffee table. 

“I just… love him. This man walks up today and starts hitting on him and all I could think was, _wow._ Wow I can’t live without Park Jimin.”

“It seems a little problematic that you came to this conclusion after someone else flirted with him-” Namjoon starts to say. Hoseok cuts him off, ignoring him entirely.

“He’s the best part of my mornings, you know? He gets up extra early just so that he can come to the bar while we’re working on the specials and he just talks to me and smiles at me and… what am I supposed to _do_ if I don’t have that? And he’s so funny, you know? He’s the funniest person alive. He doesn’t think he’s funny, but he’s so funny. And I’ve known it for years,” Hoseok says suddenly, turning to face Namjoon head on. “I’ve loved Park Jimin for _years_.”

Yoongi stares at Hoseok. Hoseok, who talks _so much_ but so rarely says anything about how he feels. Sure, Hoseok tells Yoongi things. He tells Yoongi things he won’t tell anyone else and trusts Yoongi with some of his most private moments but Yoongi has never heard anything like this from him. His jaw is open a little in shock.

He looks over to Namjoon, who looks just as dumbstruck.

Hoseok takes in another deep breath. 

“I just need him to know. And if he doesn’t love me back, then that’s ok and… hopefully we can go back to being friends. But if this Joshua Hong tells him about his feelings and Jimin doesn’t know about _mine_ , then he might… he might…” Hoseok falters a little.

“He might not realise that you’re an option,” Namjoon says quietly. He’s staring off into space. Yoongi stares at him and feels his heart fucking _bash_ against his ribcage in violent protest. 

Because the thing is -

They never talk about it, he and Namjoon. They never talk about it, it’s just an unspoken thing that they know about each other. Hoseok knows and he used to make a lot of lighthearted jokes about it, until Yoongi had quietly asked him to stop, but other than that they haven’t acknowledged it out loud in _years_.

Because Yoongi has quietly loved Jungkook for four years now, but… so has Namjoon.

Namjoon looks at Yoongi suddenly, makes direct eye contact with him and Yoongi has known Namjoon for close to a decade now, they’ve been best friends for ten years and Yoongi can read every single one of Namjoon’s facial expressions like a book.

And he knows that right now, Namjoon is imagining what it would be like to confess to Jungkook.

Back in Jungkook’s first week working at the hotel, Namjoon had walked into the outdoor stage whilst Yoongi was setting up one of the spotlights, had practically floated over to Yoongi and he’d said _I’ve just met the most incredible guy._ Yoongi had smiled and rolled his eyes and begged Namjoon to not tell him anymore, he didn’t want to hear Namjoon go flowery over _yet another_ cute boy. Namjoon had laughed and said _you love it hyung_ and Yoongi had laughed and then ran away shrieking when Namjoon had started talking anyway, waxing lyrical about _huge arms_.

He had run all the way to the bar.

He had run to the bar and then he had seen Jeon Jungkook and walked into a fucking table.

Yoongi had spent the rest of the day thinking about Jungkook. The entire _day_.

He and Namjoon had discussed it, soon after they realised. They’d gotten really fucking drunk in Namjoon’s apartment and sat up all night, just talking about their feelings and their friendship and they’d vowed, then and there, to never let romance come between them like that. They had decided that a passing crush could never be worth throwing away the longest friendship either of them had ever had.

That would be an _insult_ to their friendship. They’d sat up and boasted about it, waxed lyrical about the strength of their relationship, about their love for one another. It had been passionate and proud and they’d spent half the night with their arms around one another, swaying and alternating between talking and singing loudly along to music and it’s one of the fondest memories Yoongi has.

They’d agreed to move on, to prioritise their friendship rather than let a boy come between them, and that was that.

Only now it’s four years later and Yoongi has resolutely not moved on. Yoongi loves Jungkook more with the passing of each stupid, wasted day.

Jungkook, with big doe eyes and the kindest, kindest soul Yoongi has ever seen. Jungkook with the biggest heart and the brightest laugh and the best sense of humour; he’s been impossible not to love, really. Yoongi had tried over and over before just giving into it, just allowing that love to sit peacefully within him.

But then he sees Namjoon sometimes, when he’s talking to Jungkook, looking at him with this look in his eyes, something so warm and bone deep and Yoongi just knows that Namjoon has spent all four years quietly loving Jungkook as well.

Admittedly he’s _less_ quiet about it than Yoongi.

Ok, he mentions Jungkook’s body at least once a week. Usually in the context of how sexy he thinks it is.

Yoongi can’t blame him, he’s not wrong.

He’s still staring into Namjoon’s eyes now. Namjoon is looking back at him and Yoongi knows Namjoon is thinking something similar, that he’s thinking about Jungkook and Yoongi and four fucking years of pining.

Are they just supposed to live like this for the rest of their lives? Will Yoongi be in his fifties, still in love with Jungkook but single and alone, spending his days with _Namjoon_ instead?

Fuck, Yoongi hasn’t even really had sex with anyone since he met Jungkook. Is this sustainable? If he hasn’t moved on yet, will he _ever?_

“I need to make a plan. Jimin needs to know. If I don’t tell him then I’ll regret it forever. I’ll regret it _forever_.” Hoseok is still pacing.

Yoongi looks at him, tries to focus on him, tries to not let his face show what he thinks it might.

“You have to tell him, Hoseok-ah.” Namjoon says quietly. “And so do I…”

Yoongi stares at Namjoon. Namjoon takes a deep breath in and looks back, defiantly and apologetically all at once. Yoongi nods. He gets it. Of course he gets it.

Fuck.

“I need to make a plan. Maybe I can cook for him? I can’t cook. Doesn’t matter, I’m making a plan and I’m doing this. Tomorrow.”

Yoongi licks his lips. He’s still staring at Namjoon. He knows what he has to do.

He takes a deep breath in.

“Me too.”

\--

**_It’s a treacherous walk from the hotel to the apartments_ **

Jimin and Hoseok have something of a Monday night tradition. 

It’s a little silly and Jimin doesn’t really know when it started, but it’s always one of the best parts of Jimin’s week.

The staff schedules at _Bad Tan_ have long been set in stone. They rarely change, if ever - Seungcheol is responsible for them and he likes the consistency of a regular schedule, so the staff have long since adapted to it. It’s the most reliable thing in Jimin’s life, that schedule. 

Most nights of the week, Hoseok works the late bar shift and finishes far later than Jimin. When Jimin’s on shift, he works the evening Kids Club during dinner service and then he’s free to do as he pleases for the night. Which usually admittedly involves migrating immediately to the bar and claiming a stool close enough that he can talk to Hoseok until the bar closes. Hoseok always complains that Jimin stays up too late, but Jimin’s not much of a sleeper anyway and even if he was, he'd still choose Hoseok every time.

So most nights, Jimin spends hours at Hoseok’s tiki bar being slipped unlimited free soda by whichever bartender is closest. 

Except for Mondays. 

Mondays are the only night of the week that Jimin works and Hoseok doesn’t. At first, Jimin would text Hoseok on the sly throughout his shift, trying to grasp onto some sort of interaction with him. Yoongi would yell at him from under the Snoppy suit and Jimin would get embarrassed, wait ten minutes and try to text Hoseok again. 

Eventually, Yoongi started complaining to Hoseok directly about it. Jimin had whined that it wasn’t his fault if he was missing Hoseok (and god, missing someone you see every day, Jimin thinks maybe he would be embarrassed if Hoseok weren’t so stupidly easy to miss).

Somewhere along the way, presumably having had enough of Yoongi’s complaining, Hoseok started turning up at the end of Jimin’s shift. They would go get dinner together and then walk back to the apartments, a perfect hour of time spent together every Monday without fail.

He’s here tonight, because of course he is. He waits by the stage, leaning against a wall, wearing sunglasses and shorts in the low evening sun. It makes Jimin’s heart hurt a little. Jimin can’t remember a time he hasn’t been stupidly in love with Hoseok. How could he have stood a chance?

Hoseok is a little quiet. He’s an awful liar, he’s famous for it; even if Jimin didn’t know every inch of him, he’d know something was wrong.

Hoseok is quiet about his feelings though. Jimin feels sometimes that he has to handle these situations like he would at the Kids Club, trying to gently delve into what’s wrong with Hoseok. It’s like approaching a startled deer, one wrong move and he’ll sprint off, too fast to catch.

So Jimin just smiles. 

“Hi, work husband,” he says, because making jokes about being married always makes Hoseok laugh. It’s a thing they’ve done for years now, the stupid work husband jokes.

Hoseok does laugh, but it sounds a little high pitched. He’s anxious about something, Jimin thinks. 

Jimin wraps his hand around Hoseok’s arm and starts pulling him gently towards the staff hotel entrance. He tells Hoseok a story about one of the kids in Kids Club, a tiny Jungkook who had won every game they played through sheer bloody-minded determination alone. He imitates the boy’s voice, cute, high pitched yelling and by the time they reach the staff dining area, Hoseok’s laughter is back to normal, making his whole body move and filled with delight. 

They sit down at one of the long tables and start grabbing food. Jimin piles some rice onto Hoseok’s plate before serving himself, Hoseok instantly distracted by Hoshi and Seokmin wrestling in a corner of the room.

“They’re crazy,” Jimin says quietly. Hoseok turns to him; their faces are close together and Jimin’s breath catches a little in his chest. Hoseok smiles.

“Jimin-ah?”

Jimin raises his eyebrows a little and smiles back. Hoseok makes a little noise, like he’s clearing his throat.

“Do you want to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”

“We’re having dinner right now,” Jimin says. He laughs. “We have dinner together every night.”

“No, I mean, can I make you dinner?”

Jimin’s smile deepens. He feels his curiosity pique.

“What are you doing?” He asks. He’s still laughing.

“Nothing!” Hoseok looks away and goes back to eating. “Can’t I make you dinner?”

“Ok, ok, you can make me dinner. Can you even cook?”

“Not really.”

“Ok.” 

Hoseok looks up again and they smile at each other a little more.

It’s just like this, with Hoseok. He offers these things and Jimin happily accepts them and then Jimin offers things and Hoseok accepts them too, sometimes. That’s a little more hit or miss; Hoseok’s always been much better at giving affection than receiving it. 

It’s something that Jimin, a devoted disciple at the altar of _giving_ to the people he loves, has spent a long time trying to break through. He thinks maybe they’re at a point where Hoseok accepts more than he rejects. If nothing else, the incredible highs of the wins more than make up for the losses. 

Jimin puts some more food on Hoseok’s plate just because he can. Hoseok giggles and teases Jimin in response. 

“Ohh, Jimin-ah.”

“Gotta keep my husband fed,” Jimin says. He sounds smug, he knows it; he doesn’t care. 

“ _Happy, happy, happy,_ ” Hoseok sing-songs cutely. Jimin’s _so_ stupidly in love.

The highs of the wins definitely make up for the losses.

By the time they’re making their way back to the staff apartments, the sky is all reds and oranges, small pockets of pink. It makes Hoseok’s skin look like it’s glowing, washed in warm tones and beautiful. Jimin tucks his hand around Hoseok’s and they walk back, neither of them talking. Hoseok’s too lost in his own mind, Jimin thinks.

Jimin wonders if he could ask Hoseok about his mood earlier, if that’s what Hoseok is thinking about. He wonders if Hoseok would tell him what’s wrong, but he feels too unsure to push it or risk breaking the easy silence between them. It’s rare, honestly, that Jimin feels insecure about anything; Jimin spends most of his time these days resolutely comfortable in his own skin. With Hoseok though, it’s like there’s a strange duality to everything Jimin feels. Hoseok at once makes him feel more loved than anyone else in the world and more unsure than he ever has before. 

He’s loved Hoseok for years and he thinks Hoseok has loved him back for just as long, but Hoseok is skittish with feelings. He’s skittish with feelings in ways Jimin is familiar with and in ways that Jimin is still trying to learn. Hoseok loves _loud_ ; he flirts with everyone and their mother, hugs people moments after meeting them, considers Jimin in ways that no one else would even _think_ of. His love is loud, but he’s got allergies to vulnerability, this shield of near-impenetrability that Jimin thinks he might spend his entire life working to be let in on. 

So sure, Hoseok will let Jimin call him ‘husband’ in public and will call Jimin ‘husband’ back in private. Hoseok will have every meal with Jimin, he’ll show up on his day off every week to walk Jimin home, he’ll find Jimin first in any room and trust Jimin with things he won’t entrust to anyone else, but he won’t say the _words_. Jimin doesn’t need that necessarily, it’s enough almost to feel special, to be the only one Hoseok will do this for, to be the only one Hoseok loves that much, but - 

Ok, maybe he does need the words. 

He could say it himself, sure; he could turn around to Hoseok right now and say “ _Hey, I know we joke about being work husbands but I have literally imagined our wedding before. Hey, I know you made me a cocktail called ‘Ride Me Like a Cowboy’ today but I actually would like to ride you like a cowboy. Hey, I know I tell you I love you every day but I’ve never told you just how much I_ mean _it.”_ He could say that and get it off his chest finally and make the first move.

And he knows that Hoseok loves him. He’s almost entirely sure of it.

But Hoseok is better at giving than he is at receiving. 

So he could say it to Hoseok, sure. He’d turn around and he’d say it all and then it would be a coin toss as to whether or not Hoseok would be on the first plane out of the country within the night. Jimin could confess everything in his heart only for Hoseok to freak out and move to fucking New Zealand.

Or at least just never speak to him again.

So he doesn’t say it.

Although as Hoseok squeezes his hand and walks him quietly home through the sunset, he wishes he could.


	2. Tuesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hoseok puts his plan into action. Namjoon and Yoongi face some challenges.

**TUESDAY**

**_6 Days Until the Wedding_ **

**_\--_ **

**_He bought a whole Hog Roast_ **

It’s 6am.

It’s 6am and Hoseok is sitting at one of the tables in front of the Tiki Bar, Junhui the Head Chef on one side of him and Joshua Hong on the other. Junhui’s eyes are wide open and he’s smiling happily. Hoseok can only stare at him and hope that if he does it hard enough, he’ll miraculously turn into a human size cup of coffee. 

Hoseok would murder a man for coffee.

“So. Bartender-hyungnim and Jun-ah,” Joshua says, clapping his hands together. “Thank you for meeting with me so late in the day.”

Hoseok would murder Joshua Hong for coffee. 

“It’s my pleasure,” Junhui says gracefully. Hoseok grunts. 

“We have less than a week. I was assured by Tae-Tae that that would be more than enough time for you to finalise the menu and drinks selection. It’s certainly a unique approach. Daring. I respect it.”

Hoseok blinks a little, trying to wake up his brain enough to form a coherent sentence. Taehyung and Seokjin deserve this. He can do it for them.

He sits up a little straighter in his chair.

“Yeah. Uh. We were thinking that they could create their own personalised cocktails. Jungkookie could work on it with them, he’s our best cocktail maker.”

Joshua looks at him sharply.

“Why him?”

“...What?”

“I said, _why_ Jungkook?” There’s a menacing glint in his eye. “What about your other staff member? Kim Mingyu? Are you the sort of manager who plays favorites?”

“ _No_. No, Mingyu only started yesterday and he doesn’t have any experience creating cocktails. He’s still in training. Jungkook has been with us for _years_ -”

“So you think Mingyu is _incapable?_ ” Joshua says. He hasn’t looked away from Hoseok yet.

“No - I mean, well, yes, but-”

“I’ll use Mingyu. Besides, isn’t the other one one of the best men? Won’t he be busy?”

Hoseok goes to argue but can’t. Joshua’s right, Jungkook is Seokjin’s best man. Hoseok doesn’t want to put him under any additional pressure. Mingyu is capable and kind, Hoseok should just let him take this on.

“Fine,” he says.

Joshua smiles at Hoseok. It makes Hoseok feel uncomfortable. 

“Now. Jun-ah. The _theme_ is ‘Under The Lake.’ What are our food options?”

“Oh, I can do anything really, Shua-hyung.”

“Fantastic. I know we’ve got most of the buffet settled already, but I really do think we’re missing something. I’m thinking a seven course tasting menu with wine pairing.” He looks at Hoseok again. “What kind of vintage do you carry?”

“It’s a tiki bar,” Hoseok says.

Joshua keeps staring at him.

“We don’t exactly stock _grand cru._ ”

Joshua looks like he’s about to argue again. Hoseok feels a pang of genuine fear in his heart. Thankfully, he’s saved when Junhui steps in.

“Actually, I was thinking we could do something a little more topical. Perhaps lobster? I think it would be wonderful if the waitstaff carried the live lobsters to the guests and boiled them at the tables. They scream when they go in, you know?”

“Really?” Joshua says, leaning in. “Fascinating. Tell me more.”

Hoseok stares at them both with an open jaw. He has a sudden horrifying vision of dozens of wiggling lobsters being murdered, cacophony of screams filling the reception area. Namjoon would have a _breakdown_.

“Oh, no! Haha. I don’t think… actually, I don’t think you can do that,” he says, a little desperately.

“It’s really quite a symphonic noise, hyung-”

“No! Uh. Seokjin-hyung. Kim Seokjin. He’s a vegetarian. And the groom. He’s one of the grooms. So.” Hoseok swallows roughly. “We can’t. Do that. The lobster thing. No.”

Joshua’s gaze moves slowly from Junhui to Hoseok once more. When he speaks it’s the most chilling sound Hoseok has ever heard.

“ _What did you say?_ ”

“He’s a, uh, a vegetarian.”

“Don’t they eat seafood-” Junhui starts to say.

“No! Not, haha, not Jin-hyung! No, he… he always tells me: Fish are friends, not food! So. No, to the live lobster murder- I mean. Feast. No to the lobster feast.”

“He’s a _vegetarian._ ” Joshua is still staring at Hoseok. His voice is soft, low, quiet enough that it wouldn’t even stir a baby. Unless perhaps the baby had a sixth sense for _evil_.

“Yes.”

“And he didn’t…. Tell me…?”

“Uh-”

“WELL. Well. Jun-ah, I guess we’ll just need to RETURN the two-HUNDRED pheasants we ordered! It seems that the GROOM didn’t feel it necessary to INFORM us that he only eats VEGETABLES.” Joshua stands up so suddenly that his chair almost falls back to the ground. Junhui catches it.

“That does seem to be a challenge, but I think we can make it work,” Junhui says contemplatively.

“Well. Well, it’s good that _someone_ here is taking this seriously.” Joshua looks back to Hoseok. “If you see Kim Seokjin today, please tell him I’ll be expecting him.”

Hoseok watches him leave, Junhui hot on his tail, and wonders what just happened. 

\--

**_He’s shooting everyone down_ **

Namjoon, as he crouches behind the bench outside of Jungkook’s apartment, takes a moment to ponder what he’s done in the entire, underwhelming breadth of his life to end up here.

It’s not like he woke up this morning and thought _‘today I’m going to sit outside my crush’s apartment while he’s inside yelling at Overwatch_ ’ and yet here he is.

It’s just that it’s a big deal. What he’s doing is a big deal. He and Yoongi had agreed for years to stay away from Jungkook, but Hoseok had convinced Namjoon to follow his heart with his impassioned speech about love. Honestly, Namjoon is ready to confess, he is. He’s ready to march in there and ask Jungkook on a date. It’s just.

It’s just that the second he does it is the second he starts feeling like he’s betraying Yoongi. That’s absolutely why Namjoon is hidden behind a bench. Not because he’s scared, but because of Yoongi. _Yoongi_ , who is always in the way.

He’s not _actually_ in the way, of course. He has just as much entitlement to Jungkook as Namjoon; that is, none at all because Jungkook is his own man and can live his own life. It’s just that Namjoon maybe wants Jungkook to be his own man whilst letting Namjoon moan into his mouth and touch his biceps.

Namjoon does wish just a little bit that he could hate Min Yoongi, though. If he’s being incredibly honest. This would be a lot easier if Yoongi’s feelings weren’t also somewhat very important to Namjoon. If he were a stranger. Or any one of the other staff members. Or almost any other non-Yoongi person in the world, really. 

But it’s his best friend of ten years. Is he an awful friend? Has Namjoon really taken the time to understand and appreciate the core tenets of friendship between humans? Has he not paid his dues? Ten years of friendship, four years of standing idly by whilst loving Jungkook? Is it not his _time_?

He stands up from behind the bench.

Min Yoongi chooses that exact moment to walk towards Jungkook’s door and then stand in front of it, motionless. 

Namjoon barely even knows what’s happening, barely even has time to think as he leaps over the bench dramatically and runs to stand next to Yoongi at the door. Yoongi looks at him in shock but Namjoon pays him no mind and starts knocking, loudly.

“ _JUNGKOOK._ ”

Namjoon knocks some more.

Yoongi snaps out of his shock and starts yelling too.

“ _JUNGKOOK-AH. OPEN THE DOOR._ ”

“I’m the one that’s knocking, you don’t need to yell,” Namjoon says. He tries to say it politely, but fails entirely. 

“Hey, I got here first.”

“Hyung, I’ve been hiding behind that bench for 15 minutes.”

“Why were you- oh, hi Jungkook.”

Jungkook stands at the door, staring at them. He looks happy to see them, if confused, which is a start, Namjoon supposes.

“Hey Yoongi-hyung, hey Namjoon-hyung. Did you come to watch me play Overwatch?”

“Yes, uh-” Namjoon starts to say.

“No,” Yoongi interrupts. Namjoon stares at him with wide eyes.

It’s not that Namjoon hasn’t asked people on dates before. He has. He has tons of experience. Ok, not tons. Some. Once, he definitely did it once and she said yes and then he fucked her before the date even happened and ghosted her for ten days because Namjoon’s youth was misspent in all the worst ways. 

Ok, that happened a few times.

Namjoon’s not proud.

But so, he does theoretically have experience with this stuff, with putting himself out there. The internals of it, finding the confidence for it, that type of thing. Plus, he’s charming. He can be seductive if he needs to be, he’s looked in the mirror, he knows what he’s working with. It’s not… it’s not difficult to get a person into bed. No. Wait, scratch that, bad habits. It’s not difficult to ask a person out with the intention of becoming their long-term, faithful and devoted partner. With the eventual hope that they may in fact make love if the other person is enthusiastically down for it. That’s theoretically something very comfortably within his wheelhouse. He knows the motions of it.

But it’s just… doesn’t Jungkook deserve… _something?_ This can’t be a first past the finish line thing, Jungkook isn’t the type to just settle, he needs consideration and careful thought.

Namjoon could - he could sit down and watch Jungkook play his game. He could lean in and laugh loudly in Jungkook’s ear and maybe like, stretch out a little while moaning, just to really get Jungkook into the right mindset. He might hang around for a few hours, Yoongi would get bored, and then he’d say ‘ _oh hey, it’s getting late_ ’ and Jungkook would say ‘ _wow, I hadn’t realised._ ’

Namjoon would turn to him, voice low and sexy, and say ‘h _ave you thought about grabbing some dinner, maybe takeout and a movie?_ ’ and Jungkook would say ‘ _how did you know that I love movies?_ ’ and Namjoon would say ‘ _I know everything a-fucking-bout you_ ’ and the swearing would be hot, not aggressive. Unless he was into that. Namjoon would lean in just close enough to make Jungkook’s heart race but then he’d pull back, play it off like he had to pull out his phone from his pocket. He’d order food. He would pay, of course and then make a show of what movie to watch but he’d already have one decided. The Notebook. Bitches love The Notebook. Not bitches, human beings. The food would come and they’d watch it and Namjoon would shuffle closer and Jungkook would say ‘ _hyung, can you hold me?_ ’ and-

“Jungkook-ah, get dinner with me?” Yoongi says.

Fuck, Namjoon always forgets that for all his brash refusal to compromise himself and supposed stonefaced exterior, Yoongi has charm in spades that he can switch on like a fucking lightbulb. Fuck.

“Oh! Uh-” Jungkook starts to say and Namjoon panics.

“Jungkook-ah, have dinner with _me_. Hyung’s buying.” Namjoon says. He can’t feel his face suddenly, he doesn’t know what’s happening. 

Jungkook smiles.

“You are?” He says. He’s looking at Yoongi.

Wait.

Yoongi grins. 

“Of course I am.” Yoongi says. Something has gone very wrong. Namjoon starts to explain himself.

“No, I meant-” 

“MY FRIENDS!” Seokjin’s voice booms from behind them.

“Hyung!” Jungkook says. “Hyung, do you want to come for dinner with us? Yoongi-hyung’s buying. Or maybe Namjoonie-hyung, I’m not sure.” Jungkook looks back at them with a confused expression on his beautiful face.

“Yoongi-hyung’s buying.” Namjoon says quickly.

The Yoongi-hyung in question’s face is blank but Namjoon can see the murder in his eyes. 

“Ah, Yoongi-yah! Hyung’s grateful,” Seokjin says. He pats Yoongi on the arm. Namjoon tries not to laugh. “Taehyung’s working today so I thought I was going to have to eat alone.”

“Well, none of us are working tonight,” Jungkook says happily.

“You know my shifts?” Namjoon says suddenly, feeling something soften a little in his heart. Jungkook is truly one of the most attentive people he knows.

“Of course he does, they’re advertised on posters everywhere around the hotel,” Yoongi says. He sounds snippy. Namjoon ignores him. 

Seokjin pushes past them and walks into Jungkook’s apartment.

“Are you coming in?” Jungkook asks. “Seokjin-hyung says we have best man duties to discuss but I’m sure you can listen in.”

Seokjin smiles at them. Namjoon goes to open his mouth.

“No, thank you!” Yoongi says, cutting him off and grabbing his elbow, then tugging hard. “See you tonight!”

Yoongi keeps pulling Namjoon across the apartment complex until he hears the door close behind them, then finally lets go. They stop for a moment and Yoongi looks at Namjoon, then sighs. Namjoon shakes his head and groans. _Fuck._

\--

**_At least his shirt will be stain free_ **

Joshua Hong, as a general rule, likes people. They’re fun. It’s fun to see the panic in their eyes, to make them feel fear, to make them question their own reality. People are fun. 

He _loves_ Kim Taehyung. It’s not even an LA kind of love. Sure his fiancé keeps writing Joshua huge cheques, but it’s more than that. Kim Taehyung has a vision and a faith in Joshua’s ability to make that vision happen. Kim Taehyung trusts in Joshua’s vision. 

So Joshua likes people and weddings and Kim Taehyung and that means that coming to this hotel for a week, this beautiful if overstaffed hotel, was a good choice. A good path for his life to take. He’s having a lovely time.

His ex boyfriend works here and that’s also fine. That squirrely little bartender is in love with him, Joshua can tell. Joshua can read people: he can meet a person and know their favourite color within five seconds. If the tides had moved differently maybe that could have been his life, color reading strangers on the internet. He could have written a hugely successful novel on the matter. Alas, his passions had led him to wedding planning. 

Jimin had always been wonderfully supportive of his wedding planning passions when they were together and the sex _had_ been wonderful. He wonders if the squirrely bartender will ever develop a hard enough penis to tell Jimin. He’s doubtful. It’s funny to think about. Joshua thinks about it for a few more minutes. He laughs to himself. What a fun thing it would be to watch.

If he weren’t so busy, maybe he’d try to interfere for fun. Just to see what might happen. People are _fun_.

But busy, he is. Weddings involve so much activity. He’s determined to make sure Kim Taehyung is happy with his day.

Plus.

Fuck.

Seeing Jimin again and meeting the squirrelly bartender had been fun, sure, but… fuck. 

Joshua likes people and weddings and Kim Taehyung but he doesn’t find much in life that _sparks_ something in him. Joy. Warmth. A feeling. 

But Joshua had looked at that tacky tiki-themed pool bar and he’d seen something that had. Something that had made him feel something. Multiple things. Waves of feelings, even, soaring through his perfectly tanned body like a raven in a hurricane. 

Mingyu.

That was his name. Kim Taehyung had told him afterwards. Mingyu, a bartender. He’d only started working there today and so Kim Taehyung had apologised for not knowing much about him; he only knew his name, birthday, immediate family medical history and his dream list of pets. Joshua understood, he couldn’t hold the lack of information against Kim Taehyung. He had tried his best.

Joshua could do the rest.

Mingyu had stood at the bar, next to beefy bartender (favorite colour black) and Jimin (favorite colour blue) and Joshua had felt… dumbstruck. 

When Joshua and Kim Taehyung finally finish their hotel tour and initial introductions of the key staff Joshua needs, Joshua finds himself walking back to the bar without realising. His feet are moving of their own volition, leading him towards _destiny_. A destiny named _Mingyu._

Squirrely bartender isn’t there. That’s fine, Joshua doesn’t need the distraction. 

Beefy bartender is juggling four cocktail mixers as some of the guests look on in awe. Mingyu is sitting behind him on a small stool, folding a piece of paper with the most delicate hand movements Joshua has ever seen.

“Hello. What are you doing?” he says. Mingyu looks up with a start and drops his paper.

Joshua leaps behind the bar to pick it up, stays kneeling and holds it up to Mingyu. Is this what it would feel like, to propose to Mingyu? Would Mingyu let him plan their wedding? Joshua doesn’t want to get married. If he did, maybe Mingyu would plan the wedding. He stares into Mingyu’s eyes and tries to determine an answer.

And it’s fascinating.

Usually, Joshua would just know. He’d look into someone's eyes and _know_ if they would enjoy planning a wedding. But Mingyu. Mingyu is a _mystery_.

Joshua looks into Mingyu’s eyes and he sees only a pair of beautiful eyes. No secrets. No hidden truths to uncover. Not even a favorite color.

It’s incredible.

Mingyu reaches out and takes his piece of paper. His fingers brush against Joshua’s. It’s the greatest moment of human contact Joshua has ever known.

“Thank you. I was making an origami crane.”

“Fascinating.”

Mingyu nods and smiles. He nods his head to the side and Joshua follows the movement, to see a whole row of beautifully crafted paper birds, all different pastel colours. 

“They’re beautiful,” he says.

“Thank you. People keep giving me money for them. I’ve made thousands of won in tips today.” He smiles and Joshua has a sudden urge to also give him money. He wonders if this is a talent.

Usually he likes to exploit talents, but with Mingyu he has a strong and sudden desire to _protect_ him. 

“Would you like a drink? I haven’t made any today!”

“Of course, I’ll have anything you want to give me,” Joshua says. He’s still on his knees. He hopes that this makes his point for him, around his intentions. Maybe even subliminally; a direct signal to Mingyu’s brain that Joshua would like to perform oral intercourse upon him.

Mingyu gets up and grabs a glass, then the soda pump.

“Have you heard of soda water? I’d never heard of it,” Mingyu says. He starts spraying the soda water from the pump towards the glass. 

He misses the glass entirely.

Soda water hits Joshua directly in the face. He can feel the stickiness of it against his skin, feels it creep down the collar of his shirt. He looks down and sees how soaked his shirt is. Joshua stands up suddenly and looks at Mingyu, who looks wide eyed and terrified.

Joshua smiles at him.

“You are _incredible_ ,” he says. He means every word.

Mingyu smiles back at him and Joshua feels it to the soles of his shoes.

\--

**_Did ‘the stars’ predict three years of pining?_ **

Jimin’s favorite time of the week, outside of all of the moments he spends with Hoseok, is any shift he gets to do with Taehyung. Working with your soulmate must be one of the greatest joys in life. Jimin takes a moment to think about all those who aren’t so lucky. Poor, unfortunate souls.

They’re watching over that day’s group of children, who are scattered across a large pile of floor cushions and colouring pictures of cartoon princes and princesses. Jimin can hear the soft, scratching of pencils against the paper over the music Taehyung is playing quietly through the speaker system.

“Jimin-ah, are you mad at me?” Taehyung says, entirely out of the blue. 

Admittedly, Jimin hasn’t really said much to Taehyung that morning. Or anything. He was trying to prove a point, sue him.

Jimin sighs dramatically.

“I just can’t believe you didn’t tell me about Joshua Hong,” he says finally. He shakes his head for emphasis. 

“Jimin-ah, you can’t hold that against me! I didn’t know!” Taehyung says. His voice is soft so as not to distract the children, but Jimin can hear the quiet frustration in his words. “I can’t believe _you_ didn’t tell _me_ about Joshua Hong!”

“He’s not important enough to talk about,” Jimin says, sniffing.

Taehyung pokes him in the side of his ribcage.

“ _Ow-_ what kind of example are you setting the children?”

“ _Jimin-ah_ ,”

“Ok, ok. Fine.” Jimin looks at Taehyung and smiles. Taehyung smiles back and reaches for Jimin’s hand. “I’m not mad at you, I promise. I’m just mad that he’s _here_.”

“What did he do to you? It would be difficult to find a new wedding planner at such short notice, but I’ll do it for you-”

“No! No, Taehyung-ah, you don’t have to do that. You and Seokjin-hyung deserve to have the wedding of your dreams.” Jimin turns his hand around in Taehyung’s grip so that they can hold hands properly, then squeezes warmly.

“He did find me a canoe,” Taehyung says, voice sounding a little distant.

“ _He’s_ the canoe,” Jimin mutters darkly.

“Jimin-ah!”

“Listen, I can support that demon being your wedding planner and I can even support him being around here for the next week, but I won’t be nice to him, Taehyung-ah. It’s not in my DNA.”

“What did he do?”

“ _He dumped me and moved to LA!_ ” Jimin says. He whispers it, almost, so, so conscious that he does not want an army of under ten-year-olds getting their interests piqued and throwing a barrage of questions at him. Children don’t hold back. He learned that lesson the hard way. 

He does feel incensed, though. Joshua Hong is an irritation he never wanted to deal with again. 

“Jimin-ah, he can’t be that bad! We were born on the same day, did you know that?”

“And that’s how we know astrology isn’t a real thing,” Jimin says.

“...You take that back _._ ”

“Make me.”

Taehyung starts tickling him and Jimin has to slap his hands away furiously, giggling.

“Ok, ok, ok, I give, you can keep your stupid star thing,”

“Jimin-ah, birth charts are surprisingly accurate when you look at the whole picture.”

“Didn’t you once tell me that yours and Seokjin-hyung’s birth charts came out as completely incompatible?”

“Yes,” Taehyung says, sucking in a breath, eyes glazing over. “We defy the stars, Jimin-ah. It’s the most romantic possibility of all.”

“...That is very romantic,” Jimin agrees after a short pause of consideration. “Do Hoseokie-hyung and I defy the stars too?”

“No, you can’t have that, that’s mine and Seokjin-hyung’s thing,” Taehyung says. He reaches out and grabs Jimin’s hand again, from where they’d separated amidst all of the tickling. “I’m sure your charts are perfectly compatible. I’m sure the stars say that you’ll spend the rest of your lives together.” Taehyung smiles again and Jimin feels such a rush of sweet affection that he disentangles their hands so that he can wrap Taehyung up in a warm hug instead.

“I’m sorry for ignoring you this morning.”

“You’re forgiven. I’m sorry if Seokjin-hyung has sent you a text telling you to be nicer to me.”

“You’re forgiven. I like when Seokjin-hyung texts me. It makes me feel cherished.”

“You _are_ cherished.”

“You are too.”

They stop hugging eventually, conscious that neither of them are actually paying attention to the children.

“Do you really think the stars say that me and Hoseok-hyung will be together one day?” Jimin says, sort of errantly and not really meaning to speak out loud. Taehyung nods enthusiastically.

“You have to.”

“Well can the stars tell _him_ that?” Jimin groans and leans his head back against the wall, knocks it a couple of times very gently.

“Jimin-ah, I’ll tell him right now-”

“No, no,” Jimin sighs. “I’m just whining. It’s fine.” He straightens his back a little, remembering their conversation last night. “He asked me to have dinner with him tonight.”

“You have dinner with him every night.”

“I know, but this time he’s going to cook.”

“...Can he cook?”

“ _No_ ,” Jimin says, sighing dreamily. 

“Seokjin-hyung can cook,” Taehyung says happily. Jimin doesn’t answer; he’s too ensconced, suddenly, in visions of Hoseok running around a kitchen, shirt sleeves rolled up, tossing things competently in a frying pan, dashing back and forth between it and an open recipe book on the side. Maybe he could convince Hoseok to take cooking classes, as a hobby? Maybe they could do it together?

It’s as he starts to think seriously about what it would be like, standing with Hoseok in his tiny kitchen, arms wrapped around his waist, that one of the children yells.

_“STOP TOUCHING MY PAPER!”_

Taehyung and Jimin look at one another, then push themselves up off of the floor to go and deescalate the inevitable impending calamity. As Jimin walks across the room, he makes himself a promise to return to his chef fantasy later. And possibly to research nearby cooking courses. 

Hoseok would look really good in an apron.

\--

**_The best laid plans of horny & terrified bartenders_ **

Hoseok is an idiot.

He tries to be positive about himself. Self-love. _Confidence._ He’s good at that, he’s got that down, it’s fine. It’s just that sometimes he’s honestly just a fucking idiot.

He didn’t think this through, is the thing. He’d invited Jimin to dinner tonight, insisted on cooking, knew in his head that he was going to make it perfect, because if he’s going to confess his love tonight, he’s going to make it memorable. He wants Jimin to feel loved. He wants Jimin to look back at this night and think ‘ _wow, he really does love me_.’

It’s just that his plan is stupid. Joshua showed up with his horny eyes and memories of seeing Jimin naked and Hoseok had _panicked_ and created a _stupid plan_.

“What’s wrong, manager?” Mingyu says. He reaches over from where he’s sitting behind the bar to pat Hoseok on the back. Hoseok sighs.

“I told Jimin I’d make him dinner tonight but I can’t cook and I don’t have any food,” he explains sadly. 

Mingyu makes a wounded-sounding noise.

“Well, manager, if you want to go buy some food, I can take care of things here,” Mingyu says. 

Hoseok looks over at Mingyu; he’s spent the day making paper cranes. They’re all beautiful and intricate and the guests keep offering him money for them that Mingyu has been putting directly into the tiki bar cash register. Hoseok honestly doesn’t know how he’s going to accurately cash up the bar at the end of the night. Mingyu is currently making a delicate-looking purple crane that Hoseok feels a sudden and intense need to display prominently in his own house. It’s incredible.

So this is all fine. The problem lies more with the fact that Hoseok doesn’t think Mingyu has made any drinks today at all. Well. No. That’s not quite correct. Mingyu did try to give a guest a glass of coke about 40 minutes ago. He put the coke and two spoonfuls of sugar in a cocktail shaker, shook said cocktail shaker and ended up covered in coke. He ended up giving the guest a small bottle of tonic water poured into a carved out pineapple, plus a pink and white crane. The guest paid double and left smiling.

“I call that _‘From the Tree She Fell; an Ode’_ ,” Mingyu had said. He’d then poured an entire bottle of water over himself to clean up the residue coke/sugar mess and Hoseok had been instantly too distracted to even try to work out to approach anything Mingyu had just done. 

Mingyu is perfect and a wonderful bartender, Hoseok thinks fondly. He just, contrary to what Joshua Hong apparently believes, cannot be trusted behind the bar alone. God, Hoseok is going to have to hire a substitute bartender to help out for Taehyung and Seokjin’s wedding.

“It’s ok, Mingyu-yah,” Hoseok says kindly. He sighs again. He’s going to fuck this confession up before it’s even begun. “I can’t leave you here alone, it’s too busy.”

“Well, I’m sure Chef Junhui won’t mind if you use his kitchen and food,” Mingyu says, thoughtfully.

Mingyu is a _genius._

“Mingyu-yah, you’re a genius!” Hoseok practically jumps on Mingyu; he thinks he’d probably send Mingyu flying backwards with the force of his hug if Mingyu weren’t built like an incredibly sturdy _tree_.

“Thank you, manager!”

“Now I can definitely make Jiminie dinner.”

“It’s a really lovely idea, manager.” Mingyu smiles sweetly down at Hoseok. “It’s nice to make an effort even when you don’t have to. That’s the sort of marriage I’d like.”

“That’s the sort of marriage you deserve, Mingyu-yah! Never settle!” Hoseok proclaims as he pulls away happily from Mingyu. It’s then that he remembers the other, fairly pressing issue with his plan. 

He groans and shoves his face into his hands in sheer despair.

“...Manager, are you-”

“I don’t even know how to cook,” Hoseok laments. He’s _lamenting_. His life is a _mess_ and Joshua Hong is going to burst free from the coffin he probably spends his spare time in and present Jimin with a seven course fine dining experience and Jimin is going to tell him to fuck off and then fall into his arms and tell him he’s always loved hate-sex and Hoseok is going to die alone.

“Oh, I do! My mother always tells me my cooking is wonderful.” Mingyu says. “I won some awards at one point, Michelin something or other. I’m not sure. But I’d be happy to help, Manager!”

Mingyu is the best person Hoseok has ever hired.

“Mingyu, you’re the best person I’ve ever hired,” Hoseok says. He says it maybe a little too loudly; some guests turn around to look at them from where they’re spread out across the sun loungers and small bar tables. One guest waves his blue and green paper crane at them enthusiastically.

“Thank you manager. I like this job a lot.”

Hoseok gives Mingyu his best, widest and happiest smile. 

\--

The evening dinner is a particularly thrilling event for Hoseok each day.

Some combination of Jimin, Taehyung and Yoongi lead the Kids Club children in an energetic stage show for their onlooking families. This usually involves Yoongi running around in his Snoppy suit - something that, after seven years of working the bar, Hoseok has yet to tire of. 

Jimin usually does a sweet dance with the children, or helps them sing a song. Sometimes Jimin’s face is painted to be a lion or a butterfly or whatever animal Taehyung had felt particularly connected to that day. He used to paint tiger stripes quite a lot, big bright orange lines surrounding Jimin’s beautiful face, but then Hoshi in entertainment watched a documentary, promptly deemed it ‘offensive’ and attempted to call HR. So now they stay away from tigers.

They always finish the show by playing a game with the Kids Club children and awarding small prizes - sweets and small toys. Jimin usually brings along extras that he slips to Hoseok at the end of the night, once the families have moved inside to the evening entertainment.

Tuesday nights are always the same; _Hoshi’s Magic Show_ , followed by _Mr. Boo’s Laid-Back Disco_.

When the guests go inside, the Tiki Bar officially closes for the evening, although usually it’s kept open by ragtag groups of staff members who are off-shift and in need of a drink. Most days, Hoseok loves this. He loves being able to talk to the staff, ask them about their days. Jimin always has his spot at the bar reserved, close enough that he can hold Hoseok’s hand whenever he wants, until he decides that the other staff members have kept Hoseok working for too long after what should technically be the end of his shift, forces them all to leave and drags Hoseok off for dinner.

Hoseok loves it. 

Most nights.

Most nights, when he’s not moments away from pouring his heart and soul out to Jimin whilst still wearing his regulation neon bright polo shirt, ‘Grand Sand Hotel’ stitched carefully across the chest.

Fortunately, Hoseok had forced Jungkook to run around this morning and convince or otherwise bribe every staff member he could find to have an early dinner and not drop by the bar this evening. Hoseok still doesn’t know what Jungkook said to them and for the sake of his own dignity, he refuses to ask.

Today, Jimin saunters over, a smile stretched wide across his face. Hoseok’s dreams don’t even do him justice. Hoseok feels his whole body warm over. 

Jimin leans over the bar counter, directly into Hoseok’s space. Hoseok imagines him leaning in just a little further so that their lips can meet. He feels his body inch forward of its own accord; he jerks himself back a little, shyly, when he realises what he’s doing.

“No one’s here,” Jimin says. He doesn’t look around the bar, or otherwise gesture at the unusually empty tables. He just stares directly into Hoseok’s eyes and smiles. It feels like a rush of certainty, that stare. Like Hoseok hasn’t just been wishful thinking his way into believing this might be mutual. He feels his heart tapping against his chest, gentle but insistent. There’s something in the pit of his stomach that feels like a sickly excitement, incredible and terrifying all at once.

“Well, we have our dinner,” Hoseok says quietly. He hears Mingyu behind him, walking away, presumably towards the hotel kitchen - sees the shape of Mingyu’s retreating back over Jimin’s shoulder. 

“Are we going to your place?”

Hoseok laughs awkwardly.

“Uh. No, no, we’re going to the staff room,” Hoseok says. He’s trying not to sound disappointed. 

Jimin’s expression doesn’t even flicker; he just keeps smiling at Hoseok, warm as ever.

“Ok. Shall we go?” 

Jimin holds out a hand across the bar. Hoseok ignores the feeling of his breath catching in his chest, the feeling of how new this always feels, despite the fact that Jimin holds Hoseok’s hand at least once a day, and reaches out to slide his fingers through Jimin’s.

“Lead the way, husband,” Hoseok says quietly. 

Jimin smiles warmly at him one last time, then starts pulling Hoseok towards the staff entrance of the building.

\--

**_You should hear his cover of ‘Someone Like You’_ **

Jungkook isn’t necessarily the type of person who likes to go out for dinner with friends every night, or socialise overly much.

He is, however, the type of person who will always let his hyungs buy him dinner as many times as is reasonably and physically possible.

The Bad Tan Hotel is fairly remote in location, but there is one restaurant offsite and just a short walk away. The food is usually not as good as Chef Junhui’s, but it’s nice and reasonably priced and they _never_ skimp on the meat, plus they have the best spicy cucumber salad Jungkook has ever tasted, so Jungkook is practically vibrating when they get to the table Yoongi has booked for them that evening.

Namjoon stands awkwardly behind Jungkook when he arrives at his seat, then reaches suddenly around Jungkook to pull his chair out.

“Oh… hyung, did you want to sit here?” Jungkook says, confused.

“No! No, this is your seat, Jungkook-ah,” Namjoon responds, as he tries to pull the chair out further. The leg of the chair bounces against Jungkook’s shoe. Jungkook tries to side step to give Namjoon more space to do whatever it is he’s trying to do, but Namjoon’s arm is still there reaching around him and the wall of the restaurant is on the other side, leaving Jungkook trapped in place.

“Oh… uh…”

“Namjoon-ah, what are you doing? He’s stuck,” Seokjin says, laughing. “Move.”

Yoongi has already sat down in the chair opposite Jungkook’s and is howling with laughter.

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry, uh…” Namjoon steps back, jolts the chair next to Jungkook’s on his way and stumbles a little.

“Namjoon-ah, please don’t kill yourself before we can even order,” Yoongi says. He’s still laughing.

Jungkook smiles awkwardly at Namjoon before finally sitting down.

“Hilarious,” Namjoon says blandly, sitting down in the seat next to Jungkook. “Isn’t it great that Yoongi-hyung doesn’t have to wear his Snoppy suit tonight, Jungkook-ah?” 

Yoongi stops laughing. Jungkook isn’t sure if he’s actually supposed to answer or not; he sort of opens his mouth soundlessly as he tries to work it out.

“Snoppy was incredibly expensive. Leave Snoppy alone,” Seokjin says. His head is buried in the menu; he doesn’t bother to look up at any of them. “Yoongi-yah, there’s Korean steak here that costs 150,000 won.”

“Don’t you fucking dare, hyung,” Yoongi says mildly. He’s still staring at Namjoon.

“Don’t swear at your manager, Yoongi-yah-”

“Yeah hyung, don’t swear at your manager!” Namjoon interjects gleefully. “Where’s that steak, hyung?” Namjoon opens the menu up dramatically.

“I just think it’s _great_ that Namjoon has the night off tonight, so that the guests don’t have to deal with his _singing_.”

Namjoon slams the menu down.

“You _know_ I’m a rapper-” Namjoon says quietly.

“Oh? Then explain _Diva Wednesdays_! I didn’t realise Adele was out here _spitting bars_ -”

“Not all of us have to hide inside an imitation Snoopy fursuit in order to entertain the guests, hyung, some of us are _naturally entertaining_ -”

“What? With your weekly _Ailee Tribute Act_?”

“Shut up, you’re giving hyung a headache,” Seokjin says suddenly. He still has not looked up from the menu.

Jungkook stares back and forth between Namjoon and Yoongi, feeling _mesmerised_. He’s so glad he has so many hyungs, even if they are _insane_.

“Hello!” A female voice says suddenly. Jungkook looks up to see the smiling waitress. “What will you be having tonight?” 

“Meat!” Jungkook says. He bounces in his seat a little for emphasis. He grins at Yoongi; he’s not great at acting cute to appease his hyungs, mostly because they spend most of their time acting like four year olds, but some things are worth the attempt.

Yoongi smiles back at him. It’s so wide and sweet that Jungkook feels it in his stomach a little, like an unexpected jolt. It distracts him for a moment, but then Seokjin is reading out specific meat choices from the menu and Jungkook has to flip his open quickly, just to make sure that Seokjin doesn’t miss anything crucial, and so he forgets all about it.

\--

**_Joshua Hong in the Kitchen with a Boner_ **

Mingyu likes doing things for other people. 

People he cares about, especially; he likes making things for them, likes helping them, likes doing things that might make their day happier. People like Hoseok.

Hoseok laughs and smiles a lot and it’s so comforting, Mingyu thinks, to be able to work around someone like that. Hoseok has a wonderful laugh, Mingyu thinks. It makes Mingyu want to trust him, or want to be his friend. They could be friends and Hoseok could be his boss all at once. Really perfect. 

Hoseok had wanted to make his husband a cute dinner, but didn’t know how. Mingyu loves cooking. It’s a match made in heaven, he thinks. 

So here Mingyu is, using the big staff kitchen. They’d had to wait until the actual kitchen staff were done for the day and until the bar had shut, but Hoseok had said that that was perfect because they’d probably be alone. The romance of it all makes Mingyu’s heart feel full. He feels a pang of longing, too, and loneliness. 

Still.

He carefully cooks, does his best to really make something spectacular. He tastes some and it really is wonderful; he wishes he’d thought ahead enough to make enough for himself as well. But all the same, at least Hoseok and his husband will have a wonderful, romantic meal. Mingyu is pleased.

As he finishes plating up, wiping across an edge to tidy the sauce pattern, he hears the bang of the door.

“Mingyu-yah. I found you.”

Mingyu turns around. It’s the insanely hot wedding planner from the day before, the one who’d kept _staring_ at him. Joshua Hong. 

“Hi,” he says and ok, his voice sounds just a little bit breathy. Sue him. He’s been single for such a long time.

Joshua stalks towards him, long purposeful strides. It’s hot. 

“What are you doing locked away in here?” Joshua says as he reaches Mingyu. He stops just before him, suddenly in touching distance. Mingyu gulps.

“I’m not locked away,” he says quietly. He smiles. “I’m helping Manager Hoseok surprise his husband.”

“That’s so thoughtful,” Joshua says softly. Mingyu’s smile widens. 

“Thank you.”

“You’re so welcome.”

Mingyu gulps again. 

“So, uh…” Joshua starts to lean in towards Mingyu. Mingyu can feel himself leaning back automatically with the movement, like he’s drawing Joshua further in. His heart beats hard in his chest. “What would I need to do to get that kind of thoughtfulness from you, huh?”

“Anything, hyung,” Mingyu whispers. Joshua smiles and it’s so unexpectedly sweet. 

He takes a step forward, forcing Mingyu to take a step back as their breath intermingles and Mingyu reaches behind him blindly to find some sort of purchase on the work counter and then-

There’s a huge crashing noise, china against tile. Joshua steps back, looking mildly surprised.

Mingyu closes his eyes. Shit.

He takes a moment to collect himself, then finally turns around to look at the remains of the dishes he had made for Hoseok and Jimin.

“My food,” he says, softly and sadly.

“Mingyu-yah, I’m so-”

“No, no, it’s ok hyung. I know it wasn’t your fault, it was just an accident.”

Mingyu grabs a few more plates and crouches down, tries to pick up some of it off the floor, just in case it's salvageable. Half-way through he looks at the mess on his plate and forces himself to mark it as a lost cause. 

“Urgh. What do I do now?”

“Mingyu-yah, there’s a big vat of food over here. I’m sure Chef Junhui won’t mind if you use some. I’ll explain it to him.” Joshua says. Mingyu looks over to where he’s standing, at the leftovers from one of the guest meals of the night. Usually Junhui is happy for the staff to help themselves to leftovers anyway; it’s the perfect solution.

“Hyung, you’re a genius!” He says, leaping up happily. “Let me just clean this up and then I’ll bring it out to Manager Hoseok and Jimin.”

“Oh, let me help-”

“No! No.” Mingyu says. Joshua starts to look a little hurt, so he adds, “if you stick around then I’m just going to get _distracted_ again.”

He smiles, just to make his point. Joshua laughs, something short and loud.

“Mingyu-yah, you really are one of a kind.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll make sure of it.” He turns around and leaves. Mingyu stands stock still, watching his retreating back. They had been _so close_.

He sighs, then gets to work. Once everything is cleaned, he inspects the food; it looks like fish head curry, fish heads still intact. They look a little creepy, but Hoseok and Jimin are older than he is and more sophisticated, so maybe they’ll be into it. It smells incredibly spicy, his eyes water a little as he starts to serve it. 

He hopes it will still taste nice.

Either way, Mingyu supposes, at least they have one another. Love can overcome everything. He sighs dreamily and thinks about Joshua Hong’s face as he makes his way through to the dimly lit staffroom.

\--

**_Not every meal-based seduction is a winner_ **

Hoseok’s heart is pounding. 

It’s not that he’s never sat directly opposite Jimin and felt his heart race before, it’s just that usually, what he’s feeling is excitement. It’s thrilling, something to be happy about, the proof that Hoseok has someone in his life who makes him feel _good_. This, though. This is _different_.

Hoseok had never had any intention of actually speaking about his feelings to Jimin, is the thing. But now he’s here and Jimin is looking directly at him and smiling and Hoseok feels like he’s about to pass out. Just a little.

“Hyung, didn’t you say you were going to cook me dinner?” Jimin says. He’s laughing, because he apparently has not caught onto the fact that Hoseok’s heart is currently doing triple axels in his chest. It’s not even landing the jump, just skidding across the ice repeatedly, slamming into the plastic wall of the rink.

Hoseok looks at Jimin for a beat too long, before he realises that Jimin actually expects him to talk. Too bad Hoseok has never had a conversation in his life and has forgotten the entirety of the Korean language.

“Uh.”

“Are you ok?” Jimin asks suddenly and Hoseok forces himself to shake out of it. This is not the grand confession of love Jimin deserves. Joshua would not do this. Joshua would… Hoseok really wants to stop thinking about Joshua for two seconds. He needs to _focus_.

“Yeah, I… Mingyu told me that he was a good cook. And I wanted this meal to be perfect, so…”

Jimin smiles; it stretches across his whole face and it’s incredible, but something about it makes Hoseok calm down, somehow. His heart is still beating in double time, but it doesn’t hurt anymore, or make Hoseok feel like he’s about to be sick. Rather, it’s exactly how he expects to feel when he’s around Jimin, chest bright and filled with stars that keep bursting over and over, heart the size of the moon, all of its brightness coming from the incredible warmth and love that Jimin exudes. Being loved by Jimin is just _like that_ , Hoseok thinks. 

There’s no one else around; Jungkook’s bribery and begging had apparently been successful. The room feels big around them, but it’s just them and Jimin fills up so much of it anyway that Hoseok doesn’t even mind. What the fuck did he _do_ to be able to have even a small part of this? Of being in Jimin’s life?

And suddenly - suddenly, a confession of love doesn’t feel so impossible, or so terrifying. Suddenly, Hoseok just wants to say it. Just wants to open his mouth and say the words, say “I love you, I always have and I always will.”

He can’t even envision a build up, he just wants to blurt it out and that’s what makes him clamp down on it. Jimin deserves a speech. Hoseok isn’t great at speeches, he doesn’t think. He’s never had any reason to give one before, truthfully, so maybe he’s great at it - but a speech full of honesty about his own feelings seems like something very much not within his wheelhouse. 

It’s just that Jimin _deserves_ it.

Even still, he can feel it, the words are in his mouth, fully formed, like Jimin’s beautiful face and sweet, sweet smile dragged them up out of his throat all by themselves. He can just say it. He should just _say it_.

“Jimin-ah-”

“Dinner’s served!” Mingyu comes barreling loudly into the staff room, carrying a huge pot that bangs noisily against the wood of the doors. Hoseok gulps, lets the words sink back down. Right. Of course. Dinner. 

He puts the pot on the side and reaches over to the small table Jimin and Hoseok are sitting either side of. He starts shifting the plates around, neatening things up minutely.

“Oh, you don’t have to-” Hoseok starts.

“No, no it’s fine, Manager. Allow me!” Jimin smiles up at Mingyu. He looks charmed. Hoseok gets it; Mingyu is perhaps the most charming person he’s ever met. 

Eventually, Mingyu seems satisfied enough that he once again grabs his pot and brings it over to the table. He grabs the ladle and stirs it, but doesn’t serve it. He looks at Hoseok, expression hesitant. 

“What is it, Mingyu-yah?”

“Well. Manager, it’s just… This isn’t mine, it’s Chef Junhui’s. It tastes delicious, I tried it! It’s just that I did make mine, but then Joshua-hyung, the wedding planner, uh... well. It’s not important. But my dish ended up on the floor.”

“Did Joshua smash it to the floor?” Jimin says darkly. Hoseok feels a pang in his heart.

“No! No! Of course not! Not on purpose, anyway…” Mingyu clears his throat. “Um. Anyway, this is just as delicious, I know it is! I’m sorry it’s not exactly what you wanted though, Manager. I hope you’re not mad.”

Hoseok takes in the expression on Mingyu’s face; it’s something so apologetic and so endearing to Hoseok all at once that he finds himself wanting to give Mingyu a hug. Jimin is still sitting there, though and Hoseok has a whole love confession to get through, so he promises himself to save the hug until tomorrow morning. Instead he just smiles widely, tries to look as comforting as he can.

“Mingu-yah, it’s fine. Chef Junhui is a great cook, it’s fine. Don’t worry, you’ve done so much for us already.”

Mingyu’s face breaks out into a sweet smile.

“Really?”

“Of course!”

“Ok! I’ll just… I’ll serve up and then get out of your hair. I know you two had a romantic evening planned-”

Hoseok starts coughing suddenly, loudly and violently. He thinks he was maybe too late, that maybe Jimin heard, but then Jimin is over his side of the table, gently patting Hoseok’s back and pushing a glass of water into his hand.

“It’s ok, hyung, drink this.”

Hoseok feels a blush spread across his face like warm pinpricks. God, this is a fucking disaster already. He needs to get things back on track.

Mingyu has taken the opportunity to serve up already - it’s a deep red dish, a stew of some kind maybe, plus a bowl of rice and Hoseok cannot even fathom where that came from. He’s certain Mingyu was only carrying one pot.

“Ah, Jimin-ah, hyung’s ok,” Hoseok says, determined to get this meal over with so that he can finally just fucking _say it_. “I’m ok, go and sit down.”

Jimin does, but he squeezes Hoseok’s hand as he moves back across the table and suddenly, the entire room feels ten times brighter and more warm.

“ _Jimin_ ,” Hoseok starts to say. He stops, unsure of where his sentence is even supposed to go, or of how to even start. In a quiet panic, he grabs his spoon and scoops up some of the stew in his bowl, shoves it into his mouth as quickly as he can just to try and buy himself some time.

Minutes later, when he’s kneeling on all fours on the floor, coughing wildly and for real this time, as Jimin once again pats him on the back and tries to feed him water, he realises that the night is really and truly past saving.

“What did Mingyu put in that food?” Jimin says. He sounds a little angry. 

“No, Chef Junhui cooked it, remember?” Hoseok says. His words are broken up a little by the coughing and panting. Good god, he’s never tasted anything so spicy in his _life_. He feels like he might throw up. His eyes are _streaming_. He takes a long gulp of water, can’t even concentrate properly on the warm and comforting feeling of Jimin’s hand rubbing softly up and down his spine. He takes a deep breath and tries to continue. “Chef Junhui cooked it because… because Joshua Hong…”

‘That demon _destroyed_ sweet Mingyu’s dish, that’s right,” Jimin finishes for him.

And it clicks, suddenly.

Fucking Joshua Hong.

Joshua Hong, who wants to win Jimin back.

Joshua Hong, who must have _somehow_ discovered that Hoseok was planning on making a move tonight. God, he must have… he must have interrogated Mingyu somehow, coerced it out of him and then did what he had to to _ruin_ Hoseok’s plans.

The sheer deviousness of it makes Hoseok want to hide away. Something else in him pangs, too, the knowledge that sometimes Jimin _likes_ devious things. That Jimin doesn’t always want people that are sweet and good.

People like Hoseok.

“Hyung, let's just clean up, go back to mine and order some food,” Jimin says softly. It cuts through all the stupid _noise_ in Hoseok’s brain, his voice. Maybe it has magical healing properties, Hoseok thinks. Like something people could bottle up and market as the single greatest cure to anything, to any bad thought or any bad feeling. Hoseok could believe it.

Hoseok sighs and nods.

“Sorry, Jimin-ah,” he says. “I really did want this to be special.”

“It still will be, hyung, it’s ok.” Jimin smiles again and stands up, holds out a hand to pull Hoseok up too. Hoseok takes it gratefully, keeps a hold of Jimin’s hand for maybe just a second longer than necessary, before letting go and making a start on clearing the table.

That’s all it takes, really, to remind Hoseok that he’d be _insane_ to give up now. That he couldn’t possibly let this go without a fight.

As they walk back to Jimin’s apartment, hand in hand, Hoseok makes a pact with himself. Another one. Tomorrow. He’ll say it tomorrow. 

And _nothing_ Joshua Hong does can stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ty as always to my beautiful friends [alex](https://twitter.com/murderoustannie) and [kate](https://twitter.com/illegirling), who make all my days nicer and who continue to be the best and most valuable beta readers in all the land.
> 
> find me @ [junghomobi](https://twitter.com/junghomobi) on twitter


	3. Wednesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hoseok regroups. Namjoon and Yoongi lay down some ground rules. Taehyung and Seokjin have their joint bachelor party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK ADMITTEDLY IT'S BEEN A WHILE.
> 
> hello everyone, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting six months for a new chapter. I got pretty heavily into participating in fic fests in the back half of 2020 and ended up putting this on the back burner. now that I am once again #free, I can give this a lot more time and attention. the plan at the moment is to update this once a month (but it may drop to every other month as I also work to update the _other_ mammoth wip I'm currently writing, depending on chapter lengths).
> 
> on the plus side, this chapter is a whopping 24.6k long, so hopefully that makes up for it a little.

**WEDNESDAY**

**_5 Days Until the Wedding_ **

**_\--_ **

**_It’s called a Best Friends Support Club and it’s sacred_ **

The sun has barely risen when Hoseok lets himself into Yoongi’s apartment, the sky awash with remnants of pinks and oranges amidst the daytime bright blues. 

He doesn’t bother to announce himself; he already knows Yoongi will be asleep still, but Hoseok has to go to work in ninety minutes and he has pressing issues to speak about. Instead, Hoseok marches into Yoongi’s bedroom, thick black out blinds keeping the room dark enough that Hoseok struggles to see as he picks his way towards the bed.

He flops onto the bed, on top of Yoongi, and groans. 

“No,” Yoongi moans quietly. “No, Hoseok-ah, go away.” He doesn’t move from underneath Hoseok’s body. Hoseok turns to squint at his face in the dark; his eyes are still closed.

“Hyung-”

“No. I’m sleeping, go away.”

“Hyung, I’m in a crisis.”

“You said that two days ago!” Yoongi’s eyes are still closed, his face impassive, but Hoseok knows he’s about five seconds away from flipping Hoseok off. It doesn’t matter, this is urgent.

“Hyung, the problem is worse than we thought. You need to get up. Namjoonie is on his way here, I need the whole team. This is important.”

“I hate you,” Yoongi mutters, but Hoseok stands up and grabs his arm, then starts bodily dragging him into a standing position. Yoongi doesn’t fight back, just allows himself to be dragged through the apartment and pushed onto his couch in the living room. “Make me coffee.”

“Coming right up, hyung,” Hoseok says quickly, running into the kitchen.

“Hoseok-ah!” A banging sounds at the door, accompanied by Namjoon’s yell. Hoseok hears Yoongi groan from the other room.

“Tell him to shut up, Hoseok-ah,” Yoongi says. Hoseok darts out and opens Yoongi’s front door, doesn’t even pause before dragging Namjoon inside and over to the couch. 

“What’s happening? Who’s dying?” Namjoon asks flatly, blinking. “Why am I up this early?”

“You _chose_ to walk over here, I was _dragged_ -” Yoongi starts to complain.

“You’re a true friend, Namjoon-ah,” Hoseok says, patting Namjoon gently on the head and smiling down at him. “I’m making us all coffee.”

“So you’re not dying?”

Hoseok sighs. “Worse,” he says bitterly. “Joshua Hong is going to steal Jiminie from me.”

Namjoon groans loudly. Yoongi puts his head in his hands.

“Hoseok-ah, it is _4am_ -” Yoongi says.

“It’s 6.30am,” Hoseok corrects.

“-It is _6.30_ in the morning and you drag me out of bed to talk about _Park Jimin?_ ”

“Didn’t you already work out that Joshua whatever his name is was going to steal Jimin?” Namjoon says, slouching down into the couch. “Hyung, do you have a blanket here? I’m going back to sleep.”

“Kim Namjoon, I will kick you out of the Best Friends’ Club,” Hoseok says, pointing at him. Yoongi snickers, although his eyes are closed. “Support me! You don’t _understand!_ I tried to tell Jimin that I loved him yesterday and Joshua tried to _poison_ me.”

Yoongi’s eyes open. He stares up at Hoseok with his brow furrowed, serious look on his face.

“What?”

Namjoon snores. Yoongi leans over and shoves him off of the small couch.

“I’m making coffee,” Hoseok says quickly, ignoring Yoongi’s yells of ‘ _What do you mean poison?_ ’ as he runs back to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Hoseok is sitting on the coffee table, hands wrapped around a steaming mug, staring at his two bleary-eyed best friends. Namjoon looks a little like he’s seconds away from dropping his own mug of coffee onto the floor, so Hoseok leans over and tugs it from his fingers, then puts it down on the coffee table next to him.

“So…” Yoongi says slowly.

“So, Joshua Hong _ruined_ my romantic meal with Jiminie. Mingyu must have told him what I was doing, that I was planning to… planning to tell Jimin that I love him and he must have just… done what he could to stop me!”

“So he sees you as a threat,” Yoongi says, nodding seriously.

“Love… It does funny things to a person, Hoseok-ah,” Namjoon says suddenly. “It can make us do things… completely out of character…”

“Namjoon-ah, have you looked Joshua Hong in the eye?” Hoseok says, picturing Joshua’s handsome and terrifying face in his mind, clearer than anything else he could ever conjure up. “He’s _evil_ -”

“Love changes a man,” Namjoon continues, as if he hadn’t heard Hoseok at all.

“ _Love-_ ” Yoongi starts, before looking at Namjoon incredulously. “Speak for yourself!”

“ _Hyung-_ ” Namjoon starts to say gravely. “I’m talking about _Jungkook_.”

“Namjoon-ah, do I look like I was born yesterday? I understood the _cryptic allusion_ you were making, thanks so much-”

“Hyung, I think we need to talk about what happened last night-”

“Namjoon-ah, this is- we need to stop derailing, Hoseokie almost got _murdered_ last night-”

“Hyung-”

Hoseok looks between them both as they argue back and forth, turns their words over in his brain for a moment, then has to let them sink in, because _what the fuck are they doing?_

“What the fuck are you doing?” He interupts, once he’s given himself enough time to mull over things. “Are you arguing about Jungkook?”

“ _No!_ ” Yoongi says, at the same time as Namjoon says, voice grave, “Yes.”

“You’re fighting over Jungkook?” Hoseok stands up abruptly and stares down at them blinking. They stare back at him, both with wide eyes and guilty expressions, like two cats who’ve been caught creeping towards a fucking Jungkook-shaped cookie jar.

“Fighting is a strong word-”

“Fighting is exactly what we’re doing, Hoseok-ah,” Namjoon says, face serious. “We both- we were inspired by you! You’re following your heart! With Jimin!-”

“Don’t you dare put this on me!” Hoseok says, pointing at them both and feeling a little desperate. “You’ve both known for years that you both have feelings for Jungkook. I thought we all agreed for the sake of the friendship that you would leave him alone?” 

Hoseok gets a vision in his head, a future where Yoongi and Namjoon won’t even be in the same room as one another, a future where Hoseok has to go back and forth between them both like a child of divorced parents. Really stupid, handsome parents.

“ _You_ have nothing to do with this,” Yoongi says, staring up at him and squinting. Hoseok can feel his face drop, feeling immediately just a little hurt. Yoongi must notice pretty quickly, because he straightens up in his seat and starts stammering desperately. “I mean- no- you do have a part of this. That’s why we’re telling you! Right Namjoon-ah! I was joking-”

“Hyung, don’t be hurtful,” Hoseok says, pressing his mouth into a sad line. “I know you’re just lashing out, but that’s not fair.”

Namjoon jumps out of his chair and walks over to Hoseok, flinging a big, warm arm around Hoseok’s waist and pulling him into a side hug. 

“You’ve upset him, Yoongi-hyung,” Namjoon says. “You’ve upset our best friend.”

Hoseok shoves him away - or tries to, Namjoon doesn’t really move at all, so he wiggles out of his embrace instead and rounds the coffee table so that he can stare at them both properly.

“It’s already happening!” He says. “You’re putting me between the two of you! I hate this!”

“No! No, we wouldn’t do that!” Namjoon says.

Yoongi nods and walks towards Hoseok. “Namjoon did just try to do that, didn’t he?”

“Yes- no! No, I see what you’re doing!” Hoseok stomps away and flings himself down onto the couch. “Can you please go back to _not_ fighting over Jungkook?”

Both Namjoon and Yoongi tentatively sit on either side of Hoseok and Hoseok folds his arms, but doesn’t tell them to move. He pouts. 

Neither of them speak. Hoseok looks between them incredulously.

“What do you have to say for yourselves, then?” He demands.

“Hoseok-ah, we’re not going to break up!” Yoongi says immediately, voice low but serious enough that Hoseok believes him at once. “We’ve… we’ve already spoken about it-”

“Not really-” Namjoon interrupts, but Yoongi ignores him.

“We already agreed that we were both going to do this. We’re not going to lose our friendship over it though. I’ve known for years that I’m stuck with him.”

“Hey! I mean… same,” Namjoon says. He looks over Hoseok to Yoongi and smiles a little. 

Hoseok looks between them both. He supposes that if they’ve been able to be embarrassingly in love with the same person for the past four years without affecting their relationship at all, that must mean something. 

More than that, he thinks that Namjoon and Yoongi probably wouldn’t know how to cope without one another, even if something did happen. They wouldn’t last _twelve hours_ before they became friends again. 

He sighs.

“Ok. No one’s getting kicked out of the Best Friends’ Club. You need to talk about this properly,” he warns. 

“We will-” Yoongi agrees, smiling unconvincingly.

“Today. We’ll talk today,” Namjoon says. He sounds much more determined. Hoseok pats him on the thigh in appreciation, then reaches out for the cup of coffee still on the coffee table. He thinks it might be Namjoon’s. All the same, he knocks it back like a shot, then dabs at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

He sighs. 

“Love sucks,” he says, leaning his forearms against his knees and resting his chin in his hands. From either side of him, Yoongi and Namjoon do the same.

Yoongi flings one arm over Hoseok’s shoulder. “You’re telling me.”

Namjoon sighs and drops his head so that it hangs low, then brings a palm up to cover his face.

“Love _sucks_ ,” Namjoon repeats. Yoongi and Hoseok just nod.

\--

**_At least he’s not a vegan_ **

Seokjin wakes up with a smile on his face and the warmest sensation in his bones and the feeling in his heart of being very, very in love.

On a usual morning, Seokjin has to get up earlier than Taehyung does, but Taehyung always wakes up when Seokjin’s alarm goes off to give him a soft kiss and to snuggle into his chest for a minute. Occasionally, if he’s feeling particularly sweet, he’ll also get up and make Seokjin some tea, before going back to sleep for the extra hour he has before he needs to be up for work. 

That morning, on the morning of his and Taehyung’s joint bachelor party, Taehyung wakes up and springs out of their bed before Seokjin even has a chance to tell him good morning.

“Where’s the fire?” Seokjin asks. He tries to stretch his arms out to blindly reach out for Taehyung and pull him back into bed, but the effort feels immediately too great and so instead, he simply lets his arm fall back down to rest on top of the bed covers.

“Happy bachelor party day!” Taehyung says. The warmth of his body covers Seokjin suddenly, hands pressing firmly down into Seokjin’s side as he leans over and presses kisses into any part of Seokjin’s face he can reach. Seokjin thinks maybe he’s the luckiest person alive.

“Why are you up?” Seokjin asks, but he’s smiling and turning to sit up, to move his face towards Taehyung’s. He ends up smiling into a kiss then takes a breath in and feels his smile soften as the kiss deepens. He feels even now like his whole body opens up when Taehyung kisses him, like each bone of his rib cage expands to make space for every part of Taehyung and Taehyung’s love. Seokjin can hear Taehyung hum half a note and he thinks the same thought he had just moments earlier once more: he’s the luckiest person alive.

Seokjin creeps his hand up to grab Taehyung’s shoulder and tries to drag it back into bed. Maybe he has to be at work but maybe he always purposefully sets his alarm early just in case Taehyung feels awake enough for and interested enough in morning sex. 

“No, no, hyung, hyung I have things to do,” Taehyung says, pulling away suddenly. Seokjin opens his eyes and tries to silently protest as Taehyung moves across the room, further and further away from their bed with each step.

“Oh,” he says instead, because he’s still not quite awake enough to form words.

“I know,” Taehyung says, sounding like he understands what Seokjin is getting at all the same. “I have to go monitor the placement of the ceiling moss.”

“The ceiling moss-”

“Hyung, you know they’re going to be hanging the ceiling moss around the suspended canoe.”

“Of course,” Seokjin says blankly. He feels guilt suddenly, at how he very much did not know that Taehyung wanted moss to hang on the ceiling around his suspended canoe. “Do you… need some help? I’m sure I could start a little later today? You’re not in this alone, Taehyung-ah-”

“I know that, hyung. But Joshua and I have a _vision_. Unless you want to contribute?” He gasps suddenly. “Hyung, you _should_ contribute something. I don’t want this to be my day… this is _our_ day.”

“Oh…” Seokjin blinks up at Taehyung, who has spun to face Seokjin and has a stricken look on his face. He’s not sure what has happened here. He knows that all he wants for his wedding day is to look beautiful and spend time with his friends and family. Taehyung has taken the opportunity to turn it into a project, a creative outlet; it’s been incredible to watch for Seokjin, even if he has understood only about 5% of what Taehyung has been organising at any one time. Taehyung has mostly only given Seokjin context-less clues and otherwise spoken about most of the plans with Joshua alone so far. Seokjin wants very viscerally to make sure that Taehyung doesn’t feel that Seokjin isn’t taking enough interest in everything, but he also knows Taehyung and knows that if he felt that way, Seokjin would know about it. Taehyung has never once hesitated to tell Seokjin any of his feelings.

But still. Seokjin feels a little guilty that he really _hasn’t_ contributed anything.

It’s just that the truth of it is that anything Seokjin could create could never be as satisfying as it is for him to watch Taehyung develop something from scratch and see it come to fruition. 

“Hyung, do you feel like I’ve been leaving you out of the wedding planning?” Taehyung says. He walks back over to the bed and sits down on the edge of it, taking Seokjin’s hand in both of his and looking Seokjin very seriously in the eye. 

Taehyung’s eyes are so beautiful that Seokjin forgets to even answer for a second.

“Oh. No. No, not at all. Taehyung-ah, I want whatever you want. Not in the way people say when they don’t care, I promise I care. But I just want you to do whatever you want.”

“But you’re paying for it-”

“My parents are paying for it,” Seokjin corrects quickly.

“Yes, but don’t you want to choose even one thing?”

“Do you want me to?”

Taehyung continues to simply stare at him.

“I’ll talk to Joshua today,” Seokjin says, before Taehyung can work out how to answer. “I’ll ask him what he needs and I… I will help with the preparations. All of the- the moss monitoring tasks, I’ll do them all. You just… you can do the creating. And I’ll-”

“You’ll offer your body to Joshua in a completely non-sexual way,” Taehyung says. He sounds delighted and Seokjin instantly knows he’s doing the right thing.

“Completely non-sexual,” Seokjin agrees. “Anything Joshua needs, I’ll be there to do.”

“Although I still need to monitor the moss, hyung. But I think Joshua has been trying to make Jiminie work with the live goldfish, so if you offer up your services, he’ll be happy too.”

“Live goldfish?”

“Of course.”

“Of course,” Seokjin repeats. “I’ll do all of the live goldfish tasks you could possibly need and any of the other tasks Joshua needs to be done this week.”

“What about work?” Taehyung says. He’s giggling. Seokjin waves his hand dismissively.

“I’ll make Yoongi cover for me,” he says. “Or… Namjoon. Or Seungkwan, whoever is around.”

“You’re just going to promote them all?”

“No. I’m just going to give them very specific instructions on how to answer the phone and take a message that they will then relay to me word for word whilst doing nothing more.”

Taehyung reaches out to Seokjin’s face and runs a finger down the side of Seokjin’s cheek, then brings a hand up to run through Seokjin’s hair. It feels so good that Seokjin subconsciously pushes a little further into it.

“You’re really going to trust Namjoonie-hyung to do that?” Taehyung says, smiling. “Or _Seungkwan?_ ”

“I’ll make it work. Don’t worry, Taehyung-ah. I’ll become Joshua Hong’s best right hand man.”

“In a completely non-sexual way,” Taehyung says happily.

“In a completely non-sexual way,” Seokjin agrees.

\--

When Seokjin finally leaves the apartment, he is happily post-morning sex and absolutely running late. He still takes a leisurely stroll across the premises, because Seokjin only has one boss and that boss is Choi Seungcheol, who is essentially enamored with everything Kim Seokjin does at all times and thus will absolutely not mind. 

As he crosses the pool area, Seokjin sees Joshua Hong draped across one of the sunloungers, shirtless and sipping a martini, which is confusing because it is 8am and the bar is not yet open or even staffed. He makes his way over all the same; this feels like the most opportune time to let Joshua know about Seokjin’s promise to Taehyung and also, slightly more concerning to Seokjin, to find out if Joshua actually plans to meet Taehyung for his moss monitoring meeting. Joshua’s services are the equivalent to the cost of an entire city’s cleaning budget, Seokjin is pretty sure, so he wants to at least make sure he’s not actually being fleeced.

“Good morning, Joshua-ssi,” Seokjin says pleasantly. “Taehyungie said he’s meeting you-”

“ _Kim Seokjin-ssi._ ”

Joshua lifts his sunglasses from his eyes and perches them atop his head. He stares up at Seokjin, eyes so focused and unblinking that Seokjin suddenly feels as though he’s taking part in a staring competition that he didn’t know was happening.

Seokjin’s eyes start watering after about a minute of silent staring and so he blinks. Joshua does not. Seokjin feels an innate sense of having lost.

Joshua remains silent. He continues to stare. It’s so unnerving that Seokjin starts laughing, just to try and fill the eerie quiet of the pool area. He can hear the wind, barely a whistle, and the soft laps of the water in the pool behind them. He has a wild vision suddenly of Joshua reaching up and shoving Seokjin backwards, hard enough to launch him into it. 

“I-”

“I’ve been expecting you,” Joshua says suddenly.

“...Oh? Well-”

“When I ask, Kim Seokjin-ssi, for my clients to give me absolute honesty, that is what I expect. It’s not much that I ask for. Just honesty.”

“And twenty million won,” Seokjin says, loudly. He tries to sound jovial. He thinks he probably fails.

“And yet, the bartender told me something…. Well. Let’s just say it was disconcerting. _Chilling_ , even. I’m sure you know.”

“I-”

“And so now we cannot have meat. _Meat_. I didn’t leave LA for this, Kim Seokjin-ssi. I did not leave LA for this.”

“Wait, why-”

“I had to send back the 72 prime cuts of beef, do you know that? Did you know that?” Joshua shakes his head. “Does Tae-Tae even know about you? Can I even… _trust_ you?” Joshua looks solemn. He looks so deeply threatening that Seokjin feels genuinely terrified for his own life, but also he’s fairly certain that Joshua just implied something about Seokjin’s commitment to Taehyung and that’s something Seokjin won’t stand for, perilous danger or not.

“Hold on, you can’t-”

“I know,” Joshua says meaningfully. “ _I know_.”

Seokjin has no idea what he’s saying.

“No, I mean-”

“ _Joshua!_ ” 

Seokjin spins around at the sound of Taehyung’s voice; it carries beautifully across the width of the pool. Taehyung is jogging past the bar towards them. Seokjin feels a sudden urge to dive in between him and Joshua, like a human shield. 

“Taehyung-ah!” Joshua says. He smiles and it’s big and happy and almost warm. If a smile could gaslight a person, that is exactly, Seokjin thinks, what this smile is. 

“Hello! And hello again, hyung.” Taehyung grabs out to squeeze Seokjin’s hand as he finally reaches them. Seokjin immediately grips Taehyung back tighter than he’s ever gripped anything before. “Joshua, I can’t stop looking at the centerpiece designs. The photos you sent me this morning are perfect.”

“I’m so glad we chose to use real goldfish,” Joshua says, nodding thoughtfully. “It really elevates the work.”

“It brings it all to life!” Taehyung gushes. He tries to gesture with the hand that Seokjin is holding but Seokjin refuses to let go. “I think that the movement of the fish will really give the room a sense of tranquility.”

“I wanted to bring lobsters into the meal to really tie it all together but, unfortunately-” Joshua shoots a withering look at Seokjin. Seokjin wonders if Taehyung would be interested in running away to Thailand. “We cannot do that. So instead, we shall consume a simple cod as the fish watch on to make a statement about society. Unless your _husband_ also does not approve of _others_ eating fish?”

“Hyung is happy with fish!” Taehyung says, smiling.

“Hyung is happy with fish,” Seokjin repeats, weakly.

\--

**_Mingyu still thinks they’re married_ **

Kim Mingyu does not believe he is someone who often gets nervous in social situations. He is, in fact, very comfortable in social situations, because most people are often just so nice. It’s just, as he stands at the Tiki Bar, watching Hoseok and Jungkook discuss the specials board in earnest, that right now he feels immensely worried. 

He takes a deep breath. “Manager.”

Hoseok looks back at him and smiles. It’s such a nice smile, so warm and welcoming. Mingyu thinks that maybe he’s never had a better boss than Hoseok. A boss who he likes _and_ respects. 

A boss who he let down.

“Yes, Mingyu-yah?” Hoseok says. Truly, his smile could light up a ballroom filled with dancers, Mingyu thinks. He should tell Hoseok that, sometime. Perhaps when he’s not trying to apologize for destroying Hoseok’s romantic night with his husband.

“Manager, I’m so sorry. I know that I said I would make you and Jimin-ssi a romantic meal, but then I ruined it-”

“Joshua Hong ruined it, you mean,” Hoseok says. He sounds serious, all of a sudden and it makes Mingyu’s heart do terrified somersaults in his chest. Hoseok must really and truly be mad at him. He feels at once so subsumed with guilt he can barely breathe. What if he wants to _fire_ Mingyu? This is the best job Mingyu has ever had, the very thought makes him want to run away and _cry_.

“No! No, Shua-hyung- he-” Mingyu stutters as he tries to find the right words to describe how very much this was his doing, _his_ carelessness. “He only came to visit me last night, he didn’t do anything wrong! It was my responsibility and I ruined your meal. I’m so, so sorry. And I’m sorry if I upset you.”

Jungkook turns around from where he’s stood at the specials board, midway through drawing a beautiful pair of tropical colored birds. “You didn’t mean it Mingyu, I know you didn’t.”

“But I-“

“Mingyu-yah!” Hoseok says. “You did nothing wrong. I’m not upset with you, I promise - I could never be upset with you.” He sounds so sweetly encouraging, so very genuine that Mingyu feels his heart settle almost immediately, just a little. Hoseok would never lie to him. 

“So… so I can still be a bartender for you?” He asks, feeling quietly hopeful.

“Wh- of course!”

“Hoseok-hyung would never fire you, right hyung?” Jungkook says, voice so confident that it, too, settles something in Mingyu’s still painfully beating heart. He can’t quite believe his luck. He really does work with the most incredible people in the world.

“Never!” Hoseok agrees happily and then he’s moving towards Mingyu and wrapping his arms around him, pulling Mingyu down into a hug. Mingyu hugs Hoseok back instantly and squeezes him softly for good measure.

“Thank you so much, Manager. I won’t forget this,” Mingyu says quietly.

“It’s ok, there’s no need to keep apologising,” Hoseok says as he pulls away. Mingyu looks at him for a moment, his face pulled into a pout.

“You’re still not happy, are you Manager?”

Hoseok looks at him, face uneasy. It’s like reading a book, looking at Hoseok sometimes. “I don’t know…”

“You can tell me, Manager,” Mingyu says meaningfully. Hoseok pauses for a second more, then sighs.

“I tried so hard to make the night special for Jimin - and it’s _not_ your fault, Mingyu-yah, lets all move past that idea immediately. I just... I’ll just need to try again tonight.”

“What are you thinking, hyung?” Jungkook asks. He gently blows at the specials board. A rainbow of chalk dust floats gently into the early morning air. 

“It’s the bachelor party today, so we’re going to be busy and obviously I don’t want to take away from Seokjin-hyung and Taehyung’s moment-”

“I think Taehyung-hyung would be thrilled,” Jungkook says, snorting.

“I hope so,” Hoseok says quietly. “I just need to think of something _big_ to do, something that really makes a statement and then… then I’ll just need to get Jimin alone and tell him…” He looks between them both, then swallows, like he’s steeling himself, before he starts speaking again. “-how much I love him. That I can’t- I can’t live without him.”

Mingyu and Jungkook sigh dreamily at the same time. Mingyu hopes that when he gets married, his husband will be willing to do this for him too - to go to such incredible lengths just to remind Mingyu of his feelings. He remembers Joshua, walking towards him in the kitchen, smiling a smile so sweet Mingyu had felt it for the rest of the night. He bats it away as quickly as it comes; Hoseok deserves his full attention.

“Jimin-ssi is so lucky,” he says quietly instead.

“I’m the lucky one,” Hoseok says.

“You’re so romantic, Hoseok-hyung,” Jungkook says, smiling. “Speaking of, where is Jimin-hyung? I’ve left a space for his cocktail at the bottom here.” Jungkook points to the blank space helpfully.

“You’re a wonderful employee and a wonderful friend, Jungkook-ah.”

“Thanks, hyung.”

“Ok.” Hoseok claps his hands. “Team meeting. Enough talking about my stupid love life, let’s talk about Taehyung and Seokjin-hyung’s bachelor party tonight. There’s a substitute bartender coming tonight. He and Mingyu will be working on the bar - Jungkook-ah, don’t look at me like that, you know we’re both guests, we can’t bartend as well. Plus, this will be like a trial-run for the wedding.”

“I’m ready for any task, Manager,” Mingyu says confidently.

“...Right. Yes. Yes, I believe you, Mingyu-yah.”

Jungkook sighs, then smiles sweetly up at Mingyu. “Mingyu-yah, I think you’ll do a really wonderful job.”

“The substitute bartender should be along at any moment,” Hoseok says, clapping again. “The bachelor party is taking place at the club, instead of the usual club night.”

“What about Namjoon-hyung’s Diva Tribute?” Jungkook asks.

“Oh, no, he’s still doing that,” Hoseok says. “I know that most of us won’t be working at the event, but Taehyungie was very insistent. I guess he likes Namjoonie’s IU renditions. We need to make sure the club bar has enough champagne - we can all head down to the stock room when the new guy gets here. And remember, the hotel will still be open to guests, even though most of the party guests are Bad Tan staff, so make sure you’re on your best behaviour.” He beams at Mingyu. “Not that I’d ever expect anything less from you.”

“You can trust me Manager,” Mingyu says, still feeling just as confident. Hoseok has done so much for him already. He’ll prove himself if it’s the last thing he does.

\--

**_All is fair in love triangles and war_ **

“So,” Namjoon says, breaking what had been a thirty minute long silence between the two of them. Yoongi stares at him and wonders what could possibly come out of his mouth. 

“So,” he repeats warily.

“Jungkook,” Namjoon says. He doesn’t say anything else.

“Jungkook,” Yoongi repeats, mostly to be annoying.

“Can you say anything that doesn’t involve parroting me?” Namjoon says.

“Can you say anything of value?” Yoongi snaps back.

Namjoon stands up and points. “See! See, this! This is what Hoseok was afraid of!”

Hoseok has long since gone to work, but he and Namjoon have sat together in Yoongi’s living room since, Yoongi trying very hard not to think about how much more sleep he could have gotten that morning, if not for their impromptu and mostly terrible meeting. 

“What, that I’d verbally eviscerate you?” He says to Namjoon, smugly. 

“No- _no_ , in your dreams hyung. How does repeating everything I say count as ‘verbal evisceration’ to you. Are your standards that low?”

“Shut the fuck-”

“ _No,_ I mean- I mean that either of us are trying to make verbal evisceration happen in the first place!”

Yoongi rolls his eyes and tries to keep his face from betraying how deeply fond he feels underneath all the annoyance. “Namjoon-ah, we’re always like this.”

“No. No we’re not, hyung. You’ve… you’ve changed. Since we decided to get into this situation. You’ve been… combative.”

“You hid behind a bench outside Jungkook’s apartment for thirty minutes, Namjoon-ah, I can’t help it if you’re being weird enough that I need to call you _out-_ ” 

“It was fifteen minutes and you literally tried to ask him out in _front_ of me, hyung.” Namjoon sounds a little upset, just enough to make Yoongi stand up to look at him. It’s not fun if Namjoon is actually upset, is the thing.

“Fifteen minutes does not make it any better,” he says, because despite the guilt, he clearly has no control over his own mouth.

“I don’t want this to destroy our friendship, hyung!”

“Me neither!” Yoongi says back. He does not yell, because that would be ridiculous and way too gay and dramatic even for them. 

“Ok,” Namjoon says, nodding. He stares off into the distance and Yoongi can just tell that he’s formulating some sort of insane or genius plan in that gigantic brain of his. “We need to talk about this.”

Never mind.

“What? No. I thought we _agreed_ to never talk about this.”

“We also agreed to never pursue Jungkook, but that’s changed too now. Besides, we _told_ Hoseok we would. And it’s been four years and I- I love him, hyung. And you clearly have… some sort of feelings for him-”

“Don’t minimize it, Namjoon-ah,” Yoongi says quietly and seriously. Namjoon sighs.

“Fine, you- you love him too. We’re both in love with him. Fine.”

Yoongi sighs and puts his head in his hands. “ _How_ did we get here?”

“Have you seen his smile, hyung?” Namjoon gets a goofy look on his face. It makes Yoongi’s insides feel like a gigantic vat of noodles, hot and twisted and soft enough that they flop around messily underneath all of his bones and organs. This entire morning has been a nightmare. He _hates_ this.

“I hate this,” he says, for good measure.

“I hate this too,” Namjoon says, sighing. “But we still need to talk about it.”

“Fine,” Yoongi says. He sits down in the small armchair that sits in his living room, then folds his arms and stares pointedly at Namjoon until he sits down as well. Namjoon takes a seat on the couch opposite and leans forward, elbows pressing into his thighs. 

“I think we need some ground rules,” Namjoon says.

“What, like ‘no lurking creepily outside his house’, or are we going to agree that that shouldn’t need to be explicitly stated?”

“I was nervous!” Namjoon whines. “I was trying to work my way up to talking to him.”

“It’s just Jungkook! You’ve spoken to him a thousand times!”

“Not about this! As if you’re not scared to tell him your feelings, too!”

“Hyung has never been scared a day in his life,” Yoongi says cooly, leaning back.

Namjoon rolls his eyes. They stare at one another for a moment in silence, until Yoongi starts to feel something gnaw away in his chest. “Ok fine,” he concedes. “Fine, it’s terrifying. I stayed up half the night worrying about it. Are you happy?”

Namjoon smiles and it’s far too smug. “Yes.”

Yoongi groans.

“So,” Namjoon says, ignoring him. “First rule. No seduction attempts when we’re both in attendance.”

“Do we have to call it a ‘seduction attempt’?”

“‘Love confession’, then. Is that better?”

“It’s literally so much better,” Yoongi says, staring at Namjoon.

“Right. Well. Anyway, I just don’t think it’s fair to try to do this in front of one another.”

Yoongi sighs. “That’s fair. I don’t want to see whatever you do anyway. You’ll probably sing him some sort of song and… and…” Yoongi’s brain starts spinning, suddenly, at the possibility.

He’ll never admit it out loud, God help him he will never admit it out loud, but Namjoon performing is… incredible to look at. He’s got a magnetic stage presence. There’s a reason why his _Diva Tribute Night_ is always the most popular night of the week. It feels, suddenly, like giving Namjoon too much of an advantage, to allow him to woo Jungkook with his music. 

How could Jungkook say no?

“Rule number two,” he says quickly. “No music-based seductions.”

“Don’t you mean ‘love confessions’?” Namjoon says, smirking.

“Shut up. No music-based love confessions, because music is sacred.” He points a finger at Namjoon just to emphasize his point. Namjoon nods very seriously.

“And rule number three,” Namjoon says quietly. “If ever either of us feel as though this is coming between our friendship, we talk about it immediately.” He looks at Yoongi, eyes big and sweet all of a sudden and Yoongi feels a distinct, sad ache in his chest.

He _hates_ this.

“Fine,” he agrees. “We talk about it and if we have to…”

“If we have to, we stop,” Namjoon finishes for him, just a little uncertainly.

“Right,” Yoongi says, trying very hard not to think about what it would feel like to hold Jungkook’s hand. As soon as he pushes the thought away, he remembers something. “Oh and one last thing. Rule number four - no spending over 30,000 won for this.”

He stares directly at Namjoon, who fidgets in his seat.

“That seems a little… stringent, hyung,” Namjoon says, with all the casualness of someone who has been very much caught out.

“No. No spending over 30,000 won, because that’s what I’ve got in my bank account and I _saw_ you, Kim Namjoon-”

“Hyung-”

“I saw you trying to buy Jungkook a solid gold hedgehog statue online this morning, because Jungkook saw a hedgehog yesterday. I can’t afford that statue, Namjoon-ah. You don’t get to have this advantage. Classism doesn’t always get to win, Namjoon-ah.”

Namjoon nods furiously. “Right, no problem hyung. No gold hedgehog statue. No problem.”

Yoongi stares at him for a second more, then puts his head in his hands again. “I hate this.”

“I do too, hyung.” Namjoon sighs for what must be the hundredth time that morning. “I think we should both just… agree to not do anything today.”

“Right,” Yoongi agrees, nodding and slowly raising his head once more. “It’s been… an eventful morning. Lets just chill out and not do anything with Jungkook. We can wait until tomorrow.” Yoongi smiles at Namjoon, an offer of an olive branch. Namjoon smiles gently back.

“Great. We can make a plan, maybe. Decide who gets to go when.”

Yoongi stands up and tries not to groan again as he shuffles Namjoon towards his front door. “Don’t make this weirder than it needs to be, Namjoon-ah.”

“Sorry hyung.”

“I’ll see you later.” He opens the door and hangs off it a little, as Namjoon pauses in the doorway to wave sweetly.

“See you later, hyung.”

Once Namjoon is gone, Yoongi throws himself onto the couch and stares at a patch of paint on the wall opposite. What the fuck is he supposed to do now?

He sits for a moment more, the silence of the room feeling oppressive around him, in ways that make him want to run five laps around the block, just to shake off the bored frustration of it. He has to go to work in forty minutes, but those forty minutes feel suddenly endless. He sighs and grabs up his bag, decides to just make his way over to the Kids Club early. Perhaps Taehyung will turn up early to his shift for once and distract him.

It’s as he locks up his door that he has a realization. An idea. The niggling of a _plan_.

He should go see Hoseok once he’s done with his morning shift.

That’s it. He should go see Hoseok. At the bar. Because Hoseok works at the bar and maybe Yoongi wants to go find his best friend and maybe even get a drink. Maybe Yoongi needs to apologize for this morning, for the things he said? Maybe Yoongi will be tired from running after the kids and feeling thirsty? Maybe Yoongi should just go to the bar and see his best friend Hoseok and get a drink to quench his thirst and for no other reason whatsoever.

Absolutely no other reason, certainly no reason in the shape of a boy with gigantic eyes and huge muscles and the sweetest laugh Yoongi has ever heard. Not at all.

\--

**_At least the hand-blown glasses are beautiful_ **

The substitute bartender is called Vernon. He’s quiet and has fluffy blond hair and a sweet if impassive face and he’s even younger than Jungkook and Mingyu, and so Hoseok loves him immediately. 

Hoseok has the four of them gathered in the dark stockroom, assessing their options.

“I think we could create a really nice bespoke cocktail for the night, hyung,” Jungkook says, shifting a crate of beer easily and handing it to a still silent Vernon.

“That’s a wonderful idea, Jungkook-ah,” Hoseok says, pointing Mingyu towards boxes of champagne flutes. “Could you take those up please, Mingyu-yah?”

Mingyu walks obediently over and picks up the boxes with ease. “Jungkook-ah, since I’m the manager tonight-”

“I’m still the manager, you’re just actively in charge, but I will literally be in the room if anything happens,” Hoseok reminds Mingyu for the fifth time that morning.

“-Yes, that. I think I should be the one to devise the cocktail. If that’s ok? I really think I could do it.”

Hoseok watches as Jungkook’s face morphs into something a little sad and disappointed. It lasts seconds, though, because then he suddenly beams at Mingyu, as he hefts some more crates up into his and Vernon’s arms. “That’s a really nice idea, Mingyu-yah. I think you’d do a really nice job.”

“Are you sure?” Mingyu says over his shoulder as they all start to walk back upstairs to the tiki bar. 

“Of course!” Jungkook says enthusiastically. He leaps ahead and bumps his shoulder into Mingyu’s. “Aren’t we best friends?”

Mingyu beams back at him. “Yeah. Yeah, we are.”

“Didn’t you say they only met two days ago?” Vernon says quietly to Hoseok. Hoseok ruffles his hair with the hand that’s not carrying a clipboard.

“You’re so cute,” Hoseok coos. 

Vernon blinks at him quietly and Hoseok takes that as acknowledgement that he is indeed very cute.

When they get back to the bar area, they place the stock in a pile that Hoseok immediately starts neatening. Vernon perches himself on a stool at the bar.

“Do you really not need me to work until the evening?” He says. “I won’t mind.”

“Absolutely not, take the day to relax!”

“Before you go, I’m going to make us all a cocktail! Right now!” Mingyu says, grabbing a cocktail shaker. “Maybe we can put it on the specials board? Oh- no, you’re saving that space for Jimin-ssi, aren’t you Manager?” Mingyu smiles at Hoseok knowingly. Hoseok takes a moment to consider how his life has become this, with his love for Jimin so painfully public knowledge. He doesn’t want to dwell on it - it does, in fact, make him feel a little sick to do so, like all of his stomach is just a knot, like he’s just a block of flesh and bone and all the feelings he has are bigger than him, uncontrollable, something so far beyond his control that he’s just along for whatever ride they’re taking him on.

He trusts Mingyu, though, to not say anything untoward or make this confession even harder than it already is. He smiles at Vernon and puts an arm around him, hugging him close. He trusts Vernon, too.

“Hoseok-hyung always makes Jimin-hyung’s cocktails,” Jungkook says, grinning. Hoseok pokes him in the ribs.

“How comes he hasn’t dropped by yet?” Mingyu asks. Vernon wiggles a little in Hoseok’s arms and so Hoseok releases him, patting him on the shoulder.

“Jiminie doesn’t work on Wednesdays,” Hoseok says. He slides into the barstool next to Vernon. “He’ll be along later, though. We’ll add the cocktail then. Same as always.” He knows he’s smiling like a fucking _fool_ , he knows it. He can’t help it. Wouldn’t stop it even if he could. Jimin deserves to have people smile when they think about him, he thinks.

“Same as always,” Jungkook repeats in happy sing-song.

“Couldn’t you just… ask him when you wake up?” Mingyu says, brow furrowed.

Hoseok cocks his head, perplexed. “Oh. Uh. I mean I guess I could text him… or, uh…”

Mingyu stares at him with an expression just as confused as Hoseok feels. Hoseok opens his mouth to say something, when he hears a voice that makes his spine straighten in his stool in horror.

“Bar staff!” Joshua Hong says, appearing at the bar with a smooth smile on his face. Hoseok wonders just how illegal murder really is. “Just who I was looking for! I’ve been assisting Tae-Tae with moss placement this morning and thought I’d take a break, to see… how things are this fine morning.”

“Shua-hyung! You’re just in time to try my new cocktail!” Mingyu says. He looks far too pleased at Joshua’s arrival. Hoseok grits his teeth and presses his knuckles into the wooden surface of the bar, just for something to do that isn’t _murdering Joshua Hong with his bare hands_.

God. Hoseok isn’t a violent person. He’s not. He’s never even been in a fight, even after his older brother used to tell him that _boys communicate with their fists_. It’s never been him and it’s _still_ not but also perhaps Hoseok would like very much to push Joshua into the barside pool. 

He really is turning into a monster. 

He’s distracted from his thoughts when a beautiful blue glass tumbler appears in front of him.

“I went to a glassblowing workshop a few days ago,” Mingyu says sweetly. “I’d never done it before but it seemed like fun, so I created these five tumblers for the bar.” 

Hoseok looks at the line of them, all different colors but a perfectly uniform shape. They are without a doubt the most exquisite thing Hoseok has ever seen.

“Mingyu-yah… Your talent continues to astound me…” Joshua says.

“Yeah, they’re really nice, Mingyu-yah!” Jungkook says, picking one up and holding it up to the sunlight. The edge of it glints attractively. It’s _breathtaking_.

“Thank you so much,” Mingyu says graciously. “Now I know it’s early, but who’s happy to drink this with alcohol?”

“I don’t drink,” Hoseok says quickly, shaking his head. Jungkook snorts.

“Hoseok-hyung can’t handle more than one beer.” He pats Hoseok’s hand gently in consolation.

“ _I_ would gladly drink whatever you decide to make,” Joshua says. Hoseok feels his nostrils flare.

“It’s ok, Manager. I’ll make yours virgin,” Mingyu says and Hoseok tries his best to forget Joshua Hong’s smug, in-love-with-Park-Jimin face and smile gratefully.

The smile, in all truthfulness, does not last.

Mingyu starts mixing, directly into the tumblrs, a raw egg, orange juice and milk that he then stirs briefly with a spoon, before throwing in a spoonful of dried instant coffee beans. He adds in some gin for the drinkers, then finishes with a blowtorch and a pinch of salt, because he’d ‘forgotten to salt the rim’. 

“I call it ‘Papa’s Breakfast’,” he says proudly, as he slides them their drinks. It is, without a doubt, the worst thing Hoseok has ever tasted.

He does put some tiny, handcrafted umbrellas into the drinks, however, so at least they look beautiful.

“Bartender-hyungmin, I think you need to pay Mingyu directly for this incredible creation,” Joshua says, as he stares Hoseok in the eye and finishes every last drop of his Papa’s Breakfast.

“Oh, he already does, Shua-hyung!” Mingyu says happily. “Plus, I made the glasses for the tiki bar. I don’t really drink anything except bottled water at home, so I won’t use them. I made a lot more too - I’ll bring them along tonight! We can use them for my special bachelors’ party cocktail!”

“And…” Hoseok stares up into Mingyu’s face. “And you’ll be making this?”

“Papa’s Breakfast? No, no, I’ve thought of something more thematically appropriate. Don’t worry though Manager, it will be wonderful.”

Hoseok has no idea what to do other than nod and clasp Vernon’s elbow gently. Vernon pulls his arm free after a moment, but reaches over to pat Hoseok’s back in quiet support all the same.

\--

**_The art of placing ceiling moss_ **

Taehyung is staring as a man, suspended from the ceiling, carefully places moss against the white tiles of the event hall. The man looks down at Taehyung, a questioning look in his eyes.

“A little to the left still,” Taehyung says carefully. The man stretches his arm out and looks down again. Taehyung stares for a moment more. “It needs to move right a little more.”

“This seems to be coming along nicely, Tae-Tae.”

Taehyung turns around to see Joshua Hong enter the hall, pushing his sunglasses up to his forehead so that he can look up at the already half-covered ceiling. “You really get the feeling of being under-”

“Under a lake, yes,” Taehyung finishes for him happily. He and Joshua truly are on the same wavelength. “It’s exactly what I’d hoped for when I made that first vision board.”

Joshua points at brightly colored tape marking out boxes on the floor. “Here is where the banquet tables will be - we’ll have them lining three sides of the room and facing inwards.”

“And at the center of the room will be the art structure,” Taehyung finishes for him, nodding.

“Taehyung-ssi,” the man dangling from the ceiling calls down. His voice sounds a little distressed. Taehyung looks up to him.

“Oh, perfect, thank you Shihyuk-ssi, that’s the perfect moss placement.”

Joshua looks up and raises an eyebrow. “Tae-Tae, you have a wonderful eye for this.”

“Thank you,” Taehyung says, smiling at Joshua. Taehyung is so lucky to have found someone as committed to bringing the space to life as Joshua is. “I think the moss will really accentuate the suspended canoe.”

“That’s being shipped in this afternoon,” Joshua adds, scrolling distractedly through his phone. “Hopefully they’ll be done with the moss by then - although they’re being awfully slow about it.” He raises his voice at the last part and looks up at Shihyuk again for a moment.

“Perfection takes time,” Taehyung says serenely. He picks up another piece of moss that is lying across the floor as passes it up to Shihyuk, who has started gently descending towards the floor. “This piece will go just to the left. Let’s make sure there are no gaps where the ceiling can be seen. Seokjin-hyung wouldn’t let me paint the ceiling a sea blue color, so we’ll need to cover it all with the moss to make sure the illusion is never broken.”

Joshua makes a _tsk_ noise from beside him. “Of course Seokjin-ssi wouldn’t commit to the blue ceiling.”

“He said hotel decor is beyond his remit as Head of Guest Services,” Taehyung says sadly. “But I think this will work out better. The moss really is a captivating shade of green.”

Joshua hums in what Taehyung assumes is fervent agreement. 

His phone buzzes in his pocket suddenly, so he lets Joshua continue the moss monitoring and moves aside to look at it. It’s a text from Seokjin; a photo of tupperware filled with noodles. 

_I made us food to heat up, just in case we’re still hungry after the party tonight_

Taehyung hugs his phone to his chest for a moment, has to give himself a second to stop being overwhelmed at just how stupidly lucky he is to be marrying Kim Seokjin, before replying.

_Aren’t you supposed to be at work?_

The reply is almost immediate.

_I rerouted the phone to my cell so that I could answer calls while I cooked._

Taehyung is marrying a genius of a man. He smiles again and sends back some heart emojis plus a gif of an animated bear holding a gigantic red heart and finally, a text simply saying _‘I love you’_. He hopes Seokjin can feel it through his phone. 

“Tae-Tae, what time does your shift start?” Joshua says, interrupting Taehyung’s brief daydream of what it will feel like when he and Seokjin finally, _finally_ make it down the aisle. 

Taehyung checks his phone and sighs. “Soon.”

“I’ll supervise the moss placement while you’re gone and you can check back at your lunch break,” Joshua says kindly. He smiles and Taehyung feels so grateful that he immediately reaches out to grasp Joshua’s hand, swing it between them.

“I’m so glad we’ve found one another, in an entirely non-romantic and non-sexual way,” Taehyung says happily. “Oh! That reminds me. Seokjin-hyung… I think he wanted to feel more involved in the planning this week, because he’s the perfect man and the perfect husband.” Taehyung pauses to sigh dreamily. On his wedding week, he is entirely entitled, if not _obligated_ to speak as proudly of Seokjin as possible and he _will_ take every advantage that. 

Any moment he is not speaking of Seokjin, he thinks, feels very suddenly like a wasted one. He’ll need to do better at that.

“Hm,” Joshua says in what Taehyung assumes must be agreement. Their joined hands continue to swing between them.

“So he has offered you, also in a completely non-romantic and non-sexual way, his body. He will assist you in any tasks you need over the next week. He’ll _lift_ things for you, whatever you need,” Taehyung says proudly. “He’s very strong.”

“You’re telling me that Seokjin-ssi has offered to do whatever I say for the next week?” Joshua says. He sounds understandably excited.

“Anything wedding-planning related, yes,” Taehyung clarifies. “I know that he’s very beautiful, but he is committed to me.”

“Right, right,” Joshua says, smiling suddenly. “That’s wonderful, Tae-Tae. I can always count on you to only give me wonderful news.”

“That’s a wonderful thing to say, thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Joshua says graciously.

“Uh… Taehyung-ssi,” Shihyuk calls down suddenly. Taehyung and Joshua look up at the ceiling, where Shihyuk is still suspended, arms pressing a piece of moss into the ceiling. He looks as if he is sweating profusely. 

“Oh, yes, a little to the right please,” Taehyung says quickly. “Wait- no… no your placement before was just right. No, perhaps a little to the right. Left again- perfect. Yes, thank you, Shihyuk-ssi.” Taehyung beams happily up at him.

This wedding truly will be the best day of his life.

\--

**_It’s certainly sweeter than ‘Ride Me Like a Cowboy’_ **

When Jimin wakes up at the gentle and entirely reasonable hour of 1.45 in the afternoon, his first thought is of how nice it was to walk hand in hand with Hoseok the night before.

They do, admittedly, hold hands on the journey back to the staff accommodation every single night, but Jimin thinks that it’s even more special, then, that this is something he still finds thrilling.

Hoseok had, as he always does, walked Jimin up to his front door. Jimin had leaned, as he always does, against the door in his most seductive pose, hips pushed out towards Hoseok and one hand ruffling oh-so-casually at his hair. The summer evening light had been, as it always was, low and soft, pinks and purples almost entirely faded into the dark blues and blacks of night. Hoseok had smiled and stood in front of Jimin silently, holding his hand, staring into his eyes. Jimin had thought about how his bed was practically the other side of the door he was leaning against, how easy it might be to just _pull_ at their conjoined hands, tug Hoseok inside, flatten their bodies together and whisper into his ear all the things Jimin had spent the past three years dreaming that Hoseok would do to him. 

He’d stared back into Hoseok’s eyes and smiled back, then finally shifted, just enough to unlock his front door and finally, let go of Hoseok’s hands, wished him goodnight and stepped into his apartment alone.

It’s not, Jimin thinks now as he stretches out across the full width of his bed, joints pleasantly cracking and popping a little with the movement, that he thinks Hoseok would turn him down.

Or- well, no. He does think Hoseok would probably turn him down. But it’s not that Jimin believes Hoseok would _want_ to turn him down, wouldn’t want Jimin to press him into the mattress and strip him of his ridiculous Kids Club polo shirt. Jimin has seen the way Hoseok looks at other people and he’s seen the way Hoseok looks at Jimin and he _knows_ it’s different, that Hoseok wants him. 

It’s just not enough. One night of incredible sex isn’t enough for Jimin, not with Hoseok, not in comparison to a lifetime of holding Hoseok’s hand and making him snacks and sitting next to him in the early hours of the evening, limbs tangled casually together because they couldn’t _not_ touch in a hundred and one ways. 

He feels the familiar gnawing in his stomach, the reminder that he doesn’t have that and that he may never have that. The reminder that he has no idea how to get Hoseok to a place where he might accept Jimin’s offer of the rest of his life without freaking out and _running._

The sun is shining outside though and it’s his free day, so he lets himself ignore it, just for a moment, lets himself just bask in what it would be like to grow old with Hoseok.

\--

Jimin gets to the Tiki Bar when the sun has moved a further little away from the center of the sky. It’s hot still; the little tables around the bar are kept shaded by big umbrellas, but the bar stools are almost entirely exposed to the sun. It works out well for Jimin; guests have stayed away from sitting on one of the three stools, giving Jimin a prime spot to sit as close to Hoseok as possible. Plus, he’s got a baseball cap on and doesn’t mind sitting directly under the sun anyway, especially not if Hoseok will hold his hand while he does.

Jimin slides into one of the seats and leans onto the counter. He can see Hoseok behind the bar, reaching up to pump a shot of tequila into a cocktail mixer. Jimin can see the beads of sweat rolling slowly down the back of his arms. He swallows a little and looks back down to the counter. _Don’t stare_.

A cold drink nudges into his hand. He looks up to see Jungkook, smiling and offering a glass filled with what he assumes is diet coke. There’s a little lemon slice garnish sticking out of the top, twisted into a flower.

“Pretty,” he says, nudging it with a finger.

“Mingyu has been making them for everyone,” Jungkook says, beaming and pointing to Mingyu behind him, leaning against the back bar, moving an orange slice around in his hand. “The guests have all been really happy about it.”

Jimin stares at Mingyu for a moment. “Of course they have.”

“Although I keep telling him, he should go and take the rest of the day off because he’s working tonight.” Jungkook stares behind him. Mingyu smiles back at him innocently. Jimin looks between the two of them and sighs.

“You should listen to him, Mingyu-yah. You’ll regret it later if you don’t.”

Jungkook nudges Jimin’s hand again, then grabs a cocktail mixer, scoops up some ice with it, then throws it over his shoulder, catching it deftly behind his back. Jimin takes a sip of his diet coke and watches as Jungkook pours blue and purple and green liquids in beautiful streams into the mixer, then throws it up so that it lands upright on the top of his head. He picks up another mixer and starts again, balancing the first mixer on his head the entire time. 

Jimin glances back at Mingyu, who is watching Jungkook like he’s performing the greatest show of all time - which Jimin supposes he might very well be.

“ _Mingyu-yah_ ,” he repeats, rolling his eyes and laughing just a little. Mingyu looks at him.

“Oh- oh, sorry, Jimin-ssi-” Mingyu’s face drops. He dashes over to the bar. “And I’m really sorry about last night, I-”

Jimin shakes his head quickly. “Just- go take a break. Hoseok-hyung must have told you the same thing by now.”

“Yes…” 

“Well, ok then!”

“Hey,” Hoseok says suddenly, much closer to Jimin’s ear than he was expecting. Jimin jumps a little, then twists his head around; his cheek almost bumps into Hoseok, their faces somehow so close together. Hoseok darts back a little, then grins down at Jimin. 

“Hey, I missed you,” Jimin says before he can even _think_ about what he’s saying, mouth running ahead of his brain so fast that he opens and shuts his mouth a few times silently as soon as he’s done talking. He waits for a moment, to see what Hoseok will do.

Hoseok’s smile just melts into something that feels warmer than the sun Jimin is sitting under, warm enough that Jimin can feel it in every extremity. 

“I’m sorry again about last night,” Hoseok mutters, as his smile fades just a little. 

“Oh, not you too,” Jimin jokes, grinning. Hoseok stares directly into Jimin’s eyes, face drawn and serious. 

Hoseok, for all that he can be skittish as a deer when it comes to conversations about feelings, makes eye contact better than anyone Jimin knows. He’s good at it, knows how to do it without making people feel uncomfortable, has this wonderful way of judging what each person needs. Jimin wishes he could do the same - he thinks sometimes he goes too hard, makes people feel a little intimidated when he’s looking them in the eye. It’s useful, sometimes, but it’s not always his intended goal.

Hoseok is staring into Jimin now and ok, Jimin’s biased, but it’s the best thing that has ever happened to him.

“I really did want to make it special,” Hoseok continues. Jimin blinks, then shakes his head.

“It’s not your fault Mingyu’s dish got destroyed, or that Chef Jun’s curry was too spicy for you,” he says quietly. “I had a nice time.”

Hoseok pouts suddenly and _fuck_ , Jimin wishes he didn’t enjoy Hoseok’s pouting as much as he does. “I wanted it to be special.”

“It was!” Jimin says, laughing and slapping Hoseok’s arm gently. “Stop beating yourself up about it. And you too!” He says, peeking around at Mingyu, who is still staring at them with a devastated look on his face.

“I’m going to make it up to you,” Hoseok says confidently. He straightens from where he’s been leaning across the bar and smirks down at Jimin. He looks him down, then up. Jimin can feel a prickle of heat start at the back of his neck. “Somehow.”

“Well, you haven’t even asked me about my drink yet today,” Jimin says. They’re still staring into one another’s eyes. 

“I left you a spot on the specials board!” Hoseok says, pretending to look offended. 

“Hm, just like always.”

“Just like always,” Hoseok agrees. He leans forward again across the bar, pushing a little into Jimin’s space, then cocks his head. “What does Jiminie want today?”

Jimin rolls his eyes at his cute voice, too much aegyo for how close their faces are to one another, then pretends to be annoyed even though he just feels _overwhelmed_ , because all he ever feels around Hoseok is overwhelmed. Overwhelmed and so, so cared for. 

“Something sweet,” he says. As he says it, he has a wild vision of himself pushing forward, pressing his lips to Hoseok, Hoseok whose face is so close to Jimin’s, Hoseok who Jimin can smell, a mixture of light sweat and that cotton fresh scent that’s all Hoseok.

“Coming right up,” Hoseok mutters, smiling. He pushes away once more, this time moving towards the back of the bar, grabbing a balloon glass as he goes. Jimin watches the muscles in his back shift as he grabs things from across the width bar, barely pausing until he’s got a glass of blush pink liquid, filled with strawberries and raspberries scattered through it among the ice cubes.

He slides the glass over to Jimin and smiles. 

“Pink gin and sprite poured over ice and red berries, topped with sparkling wine,” he says proudly. ‘Called _‘Make Jimin Blush_ ’.”

Jimin straightens up in his chair, suddenly feeling a little like he’s been caught out. He scoffs, but reaches eagerly over for the cocktail.

“You’ll have to try harder than that to make me blush,” he says. He takes a sip - it’s light and sweet, just as promised. 

“Oh yeah?” Hoseok says. “What should I do then?”

Jimin raises an eyebrow, but says nothing.

Hoseok reaches a hand over suddenly, stretches one finger out and runs it down the line of Jimin’s throat. “Are you not going to answer?”

“Do you think I’d really make it that easy for you?” Jimin says back. He’s practically whispering at this point, it’s ridiculous, but he can barely spare the brain cells to think about anything except the way Hoseok’s finger is pressing lightly into the soft skin at the base of his neck.

“Well, I don’t know-”

“Hoseok-ah, my best friend!” A voice calls from across the pool. The sound causes Hoseok to pull away from Jimin; he physically moves back and Jimin takes a moment to feel the loss of it, of Hoseok’s fingers. The voice, he sees when he eventually twists around in his seat, belongs to an unusually fast approaching Yoongi. He has a strange look on his face. It makes Jimin cock his head in absolute wonder.

He looks a little unhinged.

“Yoongi-hyung, you’re finished work very early-” Jimin starts to say. Yoongi doesn’t even look at him.

“Yeah, I- uh. Taehyungie said he’d finish up for the last thirty minutes. I missed my friend! Hoseok-ah!”

Hoseok stares at Yoongi. “What the fuck-”

“What the _fuck?_ ” Jimin spins around to see Namjoon, standing behind them all and staring directly at Yoongi.

“Namjoon-ah, I- what are you doing here?”

“I was thirsty,” Namjoon says. His eyes drift to the back of the bar, where Jungkook is creating a drink that is covered by a thick cloud of green glittery smoke.

“Oh- oh, a likely story,” Yoongi says, squinting. 

“I don’t have any drinks in my fridge, hyung, you know I don’t!”

“That’s true,” Hoseok says quietly.

“Stay out of this, Hoseok-ah,” Yoongi says quickly. “This is against the rules, Namjoon-ah.”

“Against the- _you’re here too!_ ”

“I came here to talk to my best friend in the world, Hoseok,” Yoongi says. He waves his arm out at Hoseok, as if any of them had forgotten his name.

“You live next door to him,” Jimin says, trying to tamp down on his glee. He has no idea what lunatic scheme Namjoon and Yoongi have going on, but he _does_ know that there is no greater joy in life than tormenting Min Yoongi.

“I’ll fire you,” Yoongi says. He keeps staring at Namjoon. “Namjoon-ah, stop looking behind me!”

“It’s better than looking _at_ you, hyung,” Namjoon says with a gleefully mischievous smile.

Hoseok throws a strawberry at Yoongi’s head.

“Ow-”

“No firing Jiminie,” he says, before smiling at Jimin. God, Jimin can’t believe these two losers interrupted them. Hoseok’s finger had been on his _throat_. It was by far the best moment of Jimin’s life to date. He’s going to see if they can schedule an extra Snoppy shift for Yoongi this week out of sheer, cold _revenge_.

Namjoon laughs. “That your best friend?” He says, eyebrow raised and staring at Yoongi. 

“Stop it,” Hoseok says, turning to glare at Namjoon. “What are you both doing?”

Yoongi glances back at Namjoon once more, before looking at Hoseok and smiling.

“I just wanted to spend some time with you-” Namjoon starts coughing. Yoongi ignores him. “Grab a drink, relax a little before my evening shift.” He slips into the stool beside Jimin. As Jimin opens his mouth to respond, Yoongi’s hand snakes around to pinch Jimin in the side. Jimin squirms in his chair.

“Same!” Namjoon says quickly and then all of a sudden, he’s sitting at the bar too, at the last stool on the other side of Yoongi. “Me too. I was really thirsty.”

Hoseok stares at them both, eyes moving back and forth as he clearly tries to work out if he should call them both out for acting like _lunatics_.

As he stares at them in silence, Jungkook finally walks over to them all.

“Yoongi-hyung! Namjoon-hyung!” He pushes them both over two tall glasses of beer. “I know Taehyung-hyung won’t want you to drink too much before the party tonight, but...”

He beams at them both and they both stare back at him like Jungkook just invented the entire universe. Jimin rolls his eyes so hard he thinks they might spill out of his sockets. 

“I’m going to go find Taehyungie,” he says, pushing out of his chair. Hoseok looks quietly over at him with big eyes. “I’ll see you at the party?”

Hoseok nods. “See you there.”

He raises an arm up in goodbye. Jimin smiles at him for just a second more, before he spins around and walks back towards the staff accommodation, in search of Taehyung.

\--

**_In the words of the great poets, ‘I’m all in for you, oh eh oh oh oh oh’_ **

Namjoon is sipping on his beer. His hand is gripped tightly enough around the glass that he can feel the cold condensation under the pads of his fingers. 

Yoongi’s arm is pressed entirely up against his as they sit at the bar, in what feels like a threatening way. Which is ridiculous, because Yoongi is half Namjoon’s size and Namjoon couldn’t be _less_ scared of him. They’ve known each other for _years_ , the only thing scary about Min Yoongi is how he gets when he starts talking about how much he doesn’t like male vocalists.

Jungkook is smiling at Namjoon. It makes Namjoon’s insides feel a little like they’re _mush_ , like all his inner organs are just a tangled, useless mess. Jungkook glances over, suddenly, to smile at Yoongi too. Yoongi, a _traitor_. Namjoon turns to look at him too; he’s got a goofy look on his face, a wondrous sort of smile. Namjoon doesn’t think too much of it - it’s a look that he gets on his face a lot, when Jungkook is around sure but also whenever Hoseok laughs at his jokes, or when a Kids Club child does something particularly charming. Or when Namjoon is talking about something he likes.

It’s not a big deal.

Jungkook starts whizzing around the bar, diving in and out of Hoseok, who is alternating between serving a customer and staring at Namjoon and Yoongi, and Mingyu who is standing against the back bar gently sculpting a lemon peel.

“Looks like you’re making a margarita,” Yoongi says suddenly, as Jungkook tosses a shaker up in the air and lets it spin a few times, before catching it. “Did you know, during the 1918 Spanish flu they told people to drink tequila to ease their symptoms?”

“Huh?” Jungkook says, looking over at Yoongi, mouth open a little in what Namjoon thinks might be amazement. _Wonder_ , even. Something _positive_. Towards _Yoongi_.

“Hoseok-ah, could I have a martini?” He says quickly, leaning over to poke Hoseok in the arm.

Hoseok squints. “Are you going to pay for it?”

“Uh…”

Hoseok sighs. “Fine.”

Hoseok comes back a moment later, shoving a martini towards Namjoon, complete with a cherry. Namjoon adjusts himself in his seat, so that he can stretch out just a little, in a way he thinks might look enticing. He leans an elbow on the bar and starts twirling the cherry around in the martini lazily. This is what cool guys look like, hot guys at bars who know they’re hot but don’t _care_. Mysterious guys who have leather jackets and cool drinks with cherries in them and swept back hair.

Namjoon pushes his hair back quickly, then readjusts himself again so that he’s really _lounging_ across the bar. 

When Jungkook finally walks back over to the bar, after serving his margarita, he stops in front of Namjoon and Yoongi and smiles sweetly again. Namjoon leans even further into the bar, enough that a nerve in his elbow starts tingling a little under the pressure, then sticks his chest out.

Yoongi glances at Namjoon and furrows his brow; oh, he sees how hot Namjoon is. He notices. He’s got no chance.

“What are your… uh… Margarita opinions, Jungkook-ah?” Yoongi says quickly. “Where do you fall on the Cointreau / Triple Sec divide?”

Jungkook tilts his head. Fuck.

“Do you have an opinion, hyung?” Jungkook asks, grinning. “Cointreau is way stronger-”

“40%, where some triple secs are only 15,” Yoongi says. He’s nodding. Namjoon sort of wants to push him off of his stool. 

Jungkook shrugs sweetly. “I don’t really drink margaritas.” 

He spins back to flip his used shaker gracefully into the sink, then starts rinsing it with the water pump, as Namjoon tries not to snicker at Yoongi’s panicked face. 

“They don’t have an origin,” Yoongi blurts out. “Margaritas. They’re from Mexico, but no one can agree who invented them.” 

Jungkook turns back to face them and Namjoon feels, all at once, the need to do something incredible, something to distract Jungkook _away_ from whatever Yoongi is talking about. He takes a quick swig of his martini, tries not to pull a face at the burn of alcohol as it runs down his throat, then plucks the cherry from the glass.

“Hey Jungkook,” he says, smiling. He pops the cherry in his mouth, pulls the empty stem back out and stares Jungkook directly in the eyes. He chews the cherry slowly, then swallows it as Jungkook continues to stare at him.

“What are you doing?” Yoongi asks, snickering. Namjoon ignores him.

“Have you ever seen someone tie a cherry stem with their tongue?” He says, before putting the stem back in his mouth. There’s no way this can be _that_ hard.

“You absolutely can’t do that,” Yoongi says drily. Namjoon spares a glance to glare at him. Yoongi just keeps smiling irritatingly.

“Shut up,” Namjoon looks back at Jungkook. “It’s a sign that someone is _good with their tongue,_ ” he says meaningfully.

He feels the stem against the flat of his tongue, pushes it against his teeth so that he can manipulate it into a loop. He wonders a little desperately if the stem is actually doing what he’s trying to make it do, but keeps pressing on, bending the stem in half against the roof of his mouth.

He sees, in the corner of his vision, Yoongi staring at him with big eyes. Jungkook is also staring at him though, so it’s fine. It’s ok.

Or at least it is until Jungkook gets called away by a waiting customer and Namjoon, in an attempt to thoughtlessly yell after him mid stem-bend, ends up choking on the stem, Yoongi bashing him frantically on the back and muttering in his ear about how _stupid_ he is.

Hoseok shoves some water in front of Namjoon and stares at him and Yoongi both, eyes moving back and forth between them.

“Can you stop now please? As entertaining as this has been,” Hoseok asks. Namjoon sips his water quietly but doesn’t say anything. Maybe Yoongi will give in before he does and openly admit defeat.

The silence is deafening.

Hoseok stares at them for a moment longer, then walks back around the bar and bends down to fiddle with the speaker system, turns the volume up on the elevator music-esque tropical-inspired songs that play around the speakers suspended around the pool bar and surrounding seating areas. It’s _terrible_ music, it always has been, but no one has ever worked out whose permission needs to be granted in order to change it. They’ve cycled through, according to Hoseok, the same five playlists since Hoseok started at the bar and any time anyone had ever tried to change it, they’d always immediately be told to change it back. Usually by a very tired sounding Seokjin, who always claims to be relaying an e-mail from “upper management”.

Namjoon sometimes wonders if it’s just an elaborate prank that Seokjin has spent the last ten years cultivating, but that would be insane. Probably.

“I hate this music,” Yoongi mutters from beside him. “Keep drinking your water.”

Namjoon takes an obedient sip and watches as Hoseok moves through the bar slowly, his eyes occasionally glancing back at Namjoon and Yoongi, as watchful as a particularly terrifying hawk.

“What do you think he’s going to do to us?” Namjoon whispers.

“Yell, probably,” Yoongi answers. He sounds tired. “...Are we bad friends?”

“He inspired us!” Namjoon says. His glass of water jostles just enough that some droplets splash across his hand, cool in the summer afternoon heat. “This is his fault, if you think about it!”

Yoongi groans and puts his head in his hand. “This is so _stupid_.” 

Namjoon pats his back in quiet solidarity and goes back to drinking his water.

\--

They manage to sit quietly, terrible beach music playing as Hoseok and Jungkook continue to work. Jungkook sets things on fire, juggles glasses, creates beautiful glitter clouds and smoke clouds, like the most mesmerizing magician in the world. Namjoon can’t look away; he assumes Yoongi is also glued to Jungkook and glances over once or twice, just to check. He understands. Jungkook looks _incredible_.

The bar customers come in a steady stream, enough to keep both Jungkook and Hoseok from coming over to speak with them, which admittedly defeats Namjoon’s entire reason for being at the bar, but also prevents Hoseok from yelling at them, so it’s probably for the best. There’s nothing worse than having Jung Hoseok mad at you, he thinks.

Well, maybe making Jung Hoseok sad. That might be worse. 

God, they’re horrible friends.

It’s as his thoughts are starting to spiral that he finds the very same Jung Hoseok standing in front of him, squinting down at him with his arms folded.

“Kim Namjoon,” he says, very seriously.

“Hoseok-ah!” Namjoon replies, grinning hopefully. 

Hoseok squints more, but Namjoon can see a small smile underneath it and the sight of it all at once pulls Namjoon out of his internal spiral. He stands up and pulls Hoseok into a hug. 

“I love you, Hoseok-ah,” he says firmly, patting his back.

“Hey! Hey- I love you more, Hoseok-ah!” Yoongi says suddenly, from over Namjoon’s shoulder. Yoongi’s face appears by the side of them both and Namjoon stares at him for a moment, before releasing one arm and tentatively holding it out to Yoongi, inviting him into the hug. He offers up a smile that is at least 70% awkward, but entirely meant. 

Yoongi opens his mouth to say something, but then Hoseok’s arm darts out and pulls him in, so that they’re stood in a three-way hug, blocking at least half of the bar with their bodies.

“Let’s agree to never fight again,” Yoongi says. Namjoon immediately knows he’s lying and raises a suspicious eyebrow, but says nothing, because _he_ at least is a good friend.

“Right, well we’ll see how long you and Namjoon manage that, hyung,” Hoseok says. He pulls away, out of their embrace, which leaves Namjoon and Yoongi standing awkwardly in a half hug for a moment until they realize what’s happened and disentangle. “I assume you didn’t actually manage to talk yet?”

Hoseok folds his arms again and stares at them.

Namjoon glances over at Jungkook, who is standing a little way away, busy with a large group of customers.

“We did!” He tells Hoseok. “After you left, we talked about everything.”

“We lay down ground rules,” Yoongi says, nodding. 

Hoseok looks between them like he wants to ask, but doesn’t say anything. 

“It’s going to be ok, Hoseok-ah,” Yoongi soothes quietly.

“Right,” Hoseok says. “Well. I hope you both know what you’re doing.”

Namjoon nods, even though he thinks he’s probably never known _less_.

“Ok, well, Namjoon-ah, I need a favor for tonight. You’re performing right?”

Namjoon blinks. “At the bachelor party? Yeah. Taehyung asked me if I could weeks ago.”

Hoseok nods. He’s looking at the ground a little frantically. Namjoon wants to put a hand on his arm to calm him down a little.

“I need to do it tonight. Confess to Jimin, I mean,” he says. “Joshua Hong got in the way yesterday, but that won’t stop me. That’s what I was trying to say this morning before we got…” Hoseok takes a moment to glance between them, eyes wide. “Distracted.”

Yoongi snorts. Namjoon ignores him.

“OK, how do you want me to help?” Namjoon asks.

“If I’m going to confess then I need to make it special. I need you to sing for us - the most romantic song you know.”

“... _All In_ by Monsta X?” Yoongi asks, cocking his head. Namjoon sucks in a breath.

“You really want me to _All In_ Jimin?” 

Hoseok nods, small but frantic. “You know how we all feel about that song, Namjoon-ah-”

“It’s the most romantic song in the world, with the gayest music video in the world, we agreed on that years ago,” Namjoon says, staring into the distance a little. This is… an incredible idea.

He looks up at Hoseok. “Are you sure Taehyungie and Seokjin-hyung won’t mind?”

“I know they won’t,” Hoseok implores. 

“He’s probably right, Taehyungie will love it,” Yoongi agrees, nodding thoughtfully. “This is a _great_ idea, Hoseok-ah.”

“It’s genius,” Namjoon says. He takes a breath in. “But I can’t pull it off alone.”

He looks over at the bar, slowly - tries to formulate his next words in his mind so that he can get them out over all of the full-bodied excitement he’s suddenly feeling. “And I know exactly who to ask.”

“You better be about to say the name ‘Boo Seungkwan’, Namjoon-ah, or I swear to _god_ -” Hoseok says, voice suddenly low and threatening. Namjoon keeps starting at Jungkook’s back as he tosses a knife in the air and slices through leaves of mint with it. 

To sing the most romantic song in the world with Jeon Jungkook… that’s an opportunity a man could only _dream_ of.

“Namjoon-ah, remember the rules,” Yoongi says. It sounds a little like a warning, but Namjoon can’t get the thought out of his head.

“This isn’t a serenade, hyung!” He insists, turning to face Yoongi and Hoseok again finally. “This is- this is a duet.”

“We said ‘no music-based seductions- I mean, love confessions!’”

“This is for Hoseok and Jimin!” Namjoon says, pointing at Hoseok for good measure.

“Stop pointing at me,” Hoseok says. “Do _not_ use my moment with Jimin for this stupid little game, Namjoon-ah, I will absolutely kick you out of the Best Friends’ Club-”

“Yeah!” Yoongi interrupts. “This is Hoseok and Jimin’s moment! How could you do that to them! What kind of friend are you?”

“Technically, it’s Taehyung and Seokjin-hyung’s moment…” Namjoon says, but he trails off as he sees twin looks of fury. He swallows. “It’s so late in the day, you know? Seungkwan will probably be busy! I have no nefarious purposes and anyway, maybe Jungkook will _want_ to sing the most romantic song in the world with me-”

“You cannot sing the most romantic song in the world with Jungkook,” Yoongi says firmly. “That is so firmly against the rules that you may as well throw the entire book out of the window-”

“What, so that I can buy my hedgehog?” Namjoon teases.

“I’ll kill you in your sleep, Kim Namjoon. Don’t think that I won’t.” Yoongi’s voice is so low that Namjoon has to stop himself from taking a step back.

He sucks in a breath. “We didn’t make rules about non-seduction based scenarios, hyung. Just because you’re jealous that I have my own stage and my own spotlight-”

“You’re jealous that your face is stupid!”

“For the love of god, shut up,” Hoseok says, bringing his fingers up to his temples. “No one is taking mine and Jiminie’s song, unless they want me to _never speak to them again_ , is that clear?” 

He looks serious, so deadly serious, that Namjoon believes him instantly. He gulps quietly.

“Right,” he agrees quietly. “Sorry, Hoseok-ah.”

“Sorry Hoseok-ah,” Yoongi echoes, just as quiet. Namjoon glances over to him.

“But if anyone could take that song,” he says, because he can’t help himself, “it would be me, because _All In_ was written about me and Jungkook-”

“The most romantic song in the world was absolutely not written about someone as wonderful as Jungkook and a devious little cretin like you-” Yoongi interrupts.

Namjoon’s jaw drops in offense. “You take that back.”

“Absolutely not. What are you gonna do about it, huh?”

“Every second of this is torture for me,” Hoseok moans. “I hate you both.”

“Not as much as I hate him!” Yoongi declares, waving a finger at Namjoon. “This means war, Kim Namjoon!”

“You couldn’t _spell_ war-” Namjoon starts to say, but then Yoongi is marching off, back in the direction of the staff accommodation and Namjoon finds himself talking to thin air.

Hoseok still stands next to him, staring at the ground and shaking his head.

“You’re the worst best friends in the world,” he declares.

“Don’t worry, Hoseok-ah,” Namjoon says, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder, still staring into the distance at Yoongi’s still retreating back. “I’ll sing your song for Jimin. Don’t you worry.”

“I’m incredibly worried,” Hoseok says, but Namjoon ignores him and starts walking over towards the events rooms, holding a hand up in farewell as he goes.

He has a lot of work to do.

\--

**_A night in nine parts_ **

A typical night of entertainment at the _Bad Tan_ goes like this:

Dinner is outside, under the early evening heat. The tables crowd in front of a stage, sitting on the opposite side of the pool to the tiki bar. On the stage, the kids club march around loudly, performing for parents who applaud and led usually by Yoongi dressed in the Snoppy suit, or else Jimin or Taehyung, dressed in no such thing.

During dinner, the entertainment crew take over with musical performances as families eat - nothing too showy, nothing too distracting. Afterwards, as the dishes are cleared away, the real entertainment starts; Namjoon will run his tribute acts, or Seungkwan and Hoshi will lead their own variety shows of magic, quizzes, bingo. Anything to keep the families laughing and drinking and spending money at the tiki bar.

Eventually, when it gets late enough that the kids should be in bed but usually aren’t, guests are ushered inside to the club, a large hall with a stage at one end and a large bar at the other that the tiki bar staff take over. Entertainment usually turns to a disco, or club night most nights - _Mr Boo’s Laid Back Disco_ on most weeknights, Namjoon’s karaoke on Fridays, Yoongi’s one entertainment slot as DJ Suga on Saturdays. 

It is, as most things are, on an incredibly reliable timetable and most nights usually run into the early hours of the morning, before the guests tumble out and make their way drunkenly back to their rooms. 

It’s a formula that’s proved successful for them for years and all of the nights are typically uniformly successful - but none more so than the Wednesday night residency of _Kim Namjoon’s Diva Tribute Act_.

Taehyung had made it known instantly, when he and Seokjin had first decided to get married at the hotel, that his dream send-off into wedded bliss would be exactly that - dinner, drinks and all followed by a special performance by Namjoon himself, a series of love songs dedicated entirely to Seokjin, Taehyung and all of their friends. Seokjin, in charge of these things and actively invested in Taehyung’s happiness, and Namjoon, more than happy to do this for his friends, had both agreed immediately. 

\--

**_Part One: Park Jimin_ **

Jimin meets Hoseok at the tiki bar, as he’s closing the shutters and locking the little door of the bar. The night sky is dark overhead, the pool glistening in the gentle moonlight. Hoseok is still in his bar uniform, white polo shirt and shorts that sit against his skin in a way that makes his mouth water a little.

Embarrassing, considering the only skin Jimin can see is the stretch of Hoseok’s forearms, the firm line of his calves, the back of his neck, but Jimin’s not going to feel shame over finding Hoseok _ungodly_ levels of hot, even when he’s little more than a shape in the dark of the night. 

He swallows roughly.

“Are you going to get changed?” He says quietly, then tries not to laugh at the way Hoseok jumps in shock. He reaches out and runs a comforting hand down Hoseok’s back; his skin feels warm from the heat of the summer night air, solid in ways that make Jimin want to press a little harder, push their bodies together. He tries to wave the sudden image of that away - it’s ridiculous that he feels as worked up as he does over the sight of a man in his regulation hotel uniform, something they all have to wear day in and day out.

But then he supposes that it’s not just ‘a man’ as much as it’s Hoseok, Hoseok who is grinning up at him now with the biggest smile, Hoseok who radiates trustworthiness and responsibility, Hoseok who is a _good_ person. Hoseok who loves him.

Hoseok whom he loves.

“I’m not going to look as good as you even if I do,” Hoseok says, wrapping his arms around Jimin’s waist, pulling him into a back hug, pressing his chin close to Jimin’s face, still smiling wide and happy. “But yeah, I need to put some clothes on.”

It takes everything within Jimin to not think too deeply about all the scenarios in which he could be hearing that statement.

“Let’s go!” He says instead and starts walking towards the hotel. Hoseok doesn’t let go, just penguin walks them both, arms squeezing around Jimin, the body contact sticky in the warmth. Jimin thinks he might sweat through his own outfit, but doesn’t even think of saying anything to dislodge Hoseok.

Hoseok lets himself into Seokjin’s office; Jimin marvels loudly that Hoseok has somehow been allowed a key when he doesn’t even work under Seokjin, not really. 

“Exactly, he’s not _my_ manager,” Hoseok says, as he pulls his shirt over his head. Jimin looks over at the window in Seokjin’s office quickly, heart beating so loud that he wonders if Hoseok can hear it in the dark silence of the room. 

The only light sources are a dim lamp on Seokjin’s desk and the barely there moonlight of the early evening sky. It feels intimate in ways Jimin doesn’t really know how to comprehend, just him and Hoseok in a room together, the hotel eerily quiet with most of the staff and guests busy piling into the club, wrapped up in darkness, like anything that might happen here could be a secret.

Jimin keeps staring at the glass pane of the window.

“You’re just the most responsible person he knows,” Jimin teases. He hopes his voice doesn’t shake, or give away how off-kilter he feels. He can see the line of Hoseok’s stomach out of the corner of his eye.

Hoseok doesn’t say anything to that and so the room becomes quiet again, just the tick of a clock on the wall and the telltale rustle of clothes as Hoseok gets changed. It takes Jimin a moment to realize he’s holding his breath.

“Are you ready?” Hoseok says eventually. Jimin tears his eyes away from the window and looks around. Hoseok has changed into something all black and soft looking, soft enough that Jimin wants to scoot up and let himself be wrapped up in Hoseok’s arms. He’s moving before he even realizes it, wraps his arms around Hoseok’s middle and waits for Hoseok to put his arms over Jimin’s shoulders in turn. Jimin bends his knees a little, so that he can press his cheek up against Hoseok’s chest, feel the prickly texture of Hoseok’s sweater.

“You look so cozy, hyung,” Jimin says in justification of the way he’s currently entangled himself entirely with Hoseok’s body. Hoseok makes a noise in the back of his throat, then leans his chin into the side of Jimin’s head.

He laughs and the noise is so loud in the quiet that it feels jarring, but then Hoseok is the loudest person Jimin knows, in most ways, so it feels _right_ too and Jimin can feel Hoseok’s chest move with the sound of it, a warm movement from where it’s currently being held in the circle of Jimin’s arms.

“We’re going to be late, Jimin-ah,” Hoseok warns, but it’s muttered softly into Jimin’s ear and he doesn’t make any attempts to move. He’ll go when Hoseok says to go. Not a second before.

“Yes, husband,” he says all the same, voice as dutiful as he can make it sound. Hoseok makes another happy noise in his ears. God, if Jimin could stay here forever, he would. If it weren’t Taehyung’s party they were going to, he might even make a case for it. 

“It’s funny that you’ve been calling me husband for years, but Taehyung and Seokjin-hyung are the ones getting married,” Hoseok says and Jimin can _hear_ the sudden, slowly growing unease in his voice. It’s that telltale sign that something is happening to Hoseok that feels scary, in some way. Jimin’s heart starts beating a little harder. He hates this part.

He pulls away - keeps his arms around Hoseok but pulls back far enough so that they can look at each other, so that Jimin can smile up at Hoseok as reassuringly as possible.

“We’re _work_ husbands, aren’t we? Do you think I have another work husband somewhere?”

He says it as flirtily as possible - giggles, poking Hoseok in the side, smile a little meaningful, anything to warm Hoseok back into something more easy, less trepidatious.

Hoseok grins and laughs, a bright and happy sound. 

“I think you could handle more than just me,” Hoseok says, giggling. “I think Park Jimin could take on twelve husbands if he really wanted.”

Jimin hums, satisfied. “Hyung, I could handle twenty.”

“Park Jimin and every man he’s ever met, all head over heels in love with him,” Hoseok says. 

Jimin laughs at that, can’t help himself, then tugs Hoseok closer before he can even think about what he’s doing.

“It’s a good thing I only want one then, huh?” Jimin’s voice is a little more than a mumble and Hoseok’s laughter is dying off, face morphing into something more serious. Jimin wonders if they’ve gone too far, if Hoseok has said too much, or if Jimin has. He can feel his hands shake from where they rest against Hoseok’s back.

They stare at each other in the dim light of the room. Hoseok looks so serious that Jimin can’t quite bear it, twitches with a need to lighten the mood.

“One work husband, til death do we part,” Jimin says, forcing out a laugh that sounds real enough and squirming away from Hoseok. “Just you and me, hyung.”

He swallows quietly. Hoseok looks away at the door, then back at Jimin, blinking slowly. His face breaks out into a small smile, suddenly. It doesn’t quite reach his eyes but it feels real enough.

He reaches over and starts fiddling with one of the buttons on Jimin’s shirt.

“You mean that?” He sounds like he’s joking, like he’s just being cute.

Jimin swallows, then nods and finally, twists around to look at the door of Seokjin’s office.

“We’re going to be late for Taehyung and Seokjin-hyung’s party,” Hoseok says, following his line of sight. Jimin nods silently again. He isn’t sure whether to look back at Hoseok or not. Everything feels so fragile, all of a sudden, like they’re navigating a path along a dilapidated bridge. 

He stays silent. Hoseok does too, just for a moment, but then he’s letting go of Jimin’s button, stepping back and walking towards the door, grabbing Jimin’s hand as he goes.

\--

**_Part Two: Kim Namjoon_ **

Namjoon sits on the stage, leaning casually against the baby grand that Hoshi had helped him wheel on. He looks out at the crowd, at all of his friends in casual clothes, mingling with the guests. Seungcheol is hovering awkwardly in one corner, phone in one hand. As the Head of Staff, it was at his discretion that Seokjin and Taehyung had been allowed to invite everyone to their joint party. Namjoon snorts and wonders if he regrets it now, watching all of the staff collectively gather at tables, practically yelling their conversations, the room already feeling a hair’s breadth away from chaos. 

Seungcheol doesn’t usually keep himself too far removed from the rest of the staff, Namjoon reasons. Maybe he’ll ease up a little once Namjoon starts playing for them all.

“Namjoon-hyung! _Hyung!_ ”

Namjoon pivots around to see Seungkwan approaching the stage, tall glass of cold beer in hand.

“I asked the new bartender, the cute little blonde one, for a whiskey and coke for you, but he just gave me a beer and then moved on to serve someone else,” Seungwkan says, pushing the beer over towards Namjoon with one finger and a derisive expression on his face.

“Thanks, Seungkwan-ah,” Namjoon says, grabbing the beer all the same. “I think.”

“Hey! Be thankful I didn’t go to Mingyu-hyung! Have you seen what’s in those cocktails he keeps giving everyone?” Seungkwan starts laughing, then turns around to rest his hip against the edge of the stage. “They’re all gonna be falling off their chairs before you even get to the second act.”

Namjoon raises his eyebrows and glances around at the guests again. He can see Hoseok walking into the room, walking next to Jimin, with a strange look on his face. Taehyung runs over to them immediately and wraps Jimin up into a hug. Hoseok doesn’t gather them both up, like he usually would, just hovers by Jimin’s shoulder and scans the room. 

Namjoon tries waving to see if they can catch one another’s eyes, but Hoseok is immediately distracted by Seokjin, who runs over to hug him. They smile at one another, in a way that is very sweet and makes Namjoon feel a lot of very warm and happy things about his friends. He watches them for a second more, then keeps scanning, aware that he hasn’t caught sight of Yoongi yet.

Or Jungkook.

It’s as he thinks it that he sees them - the two of them, together, walking through the door. Jungkook is talking animatedly and Yoongi is staring at him with eyes wide as saucers.

They make their way across the room, laughing together. Jungkook grabs Yoongi’s arm and starts pulling at it, makes it lie across his chest, his own arms wrapped tightly around it. They stay like that until they get to a table at the side of the room. Namjoon watches as Yoongi guides Jungkook around to the side, to seats far enough out of the center that they’re pretty much covered in shadows. He squints at them through the dark, can just about make out the way that Jungkook twists his entire body around to face Yoongi, bodies illuminated occasionally in the rotating disco lights.

Something in his heart feels a little like it’s breaking.

“Hyung… _hyung? Namjoon-hyung?”_

Namjoon shakes himself out of his head and twists back to face Seungkwan, who is still standing at the stage, still apparently talking. 

“Yeah?” He says a little dumbly, blinking down at Seungkwan’s judgemental face.

“You’re on in two,” he says, raising an eyebrow. Namjoon feels as though potentially, Seungkwan had both been speaking the whole time and is aware that Namjoon was not listening to a word. He opens his mouth to apologize, but then Seungkwan is spinning on his heel and marching away, back towards a table of his own.

He looks down at the piano, at his hands resting lightly on the still closed lid. He wills himself to not look at Jungkook and Yoongi again, then immediately twists around to look at them, because Namjoon’s self control has never been particularly good at the best of times.

He stares at the shadows of their bodies pressed close together, the bright lines of red and green and blue that flash over them and the way their faces look so happy every time the light passes over. As he watches he counts in his head, all the way to 120, then swallows and twists back, opens up the piano lid, pulls down the microphone and starts to play.

**\--**

**_Part Three: Kim Mingyu_ **

Mingyu leans against the surface of the club bar, staring at the drinks board Jungkook had created and hung up for him earlier that evening. The bar is running a limited drinks menu - just wine, beer, champagne and Mingyu’s special cocktail. It feels incredible, Mingyu thinks, to have his own cocktail up on the board. Like a sign that Mingyu is contributing something, like Mingyu is doing something right in his job. 

Vernon stands next to him, sipping on a small glass of water and staring at the brightly decorated board, head tilted to the side.

“That’s your cocktail?” He asks.

Mingyu’s smile grows even wider. “Yep.”

“And… you named it?”

Mingyu nods proudly. “I came up with the name after looking at a picture of Seokjin-ssi and Taehyung-ssi.”

“And do they… know about this?”

Mingyu rocks backwards and forewards on the soles of his feet in excitement. “They haven’t come over yet. Do you think they’ll like it?”

There’s a pause.

“Sure,” Vernon says eventually. He’s still staring at the board. Mingyu hefts in a deep breath then lets it out slowly.

“I hope you’re right,” he says, quietly and truthfully.

“MIngyu-yah!” Mingyu straightens up, suddenly, at the sight of Joshua Hong walking over, looking as beautiful and as wonderful as ever.

“‘Shua-hyung,” Mingyu says, smiling. He puffs out his chest a little, in hopes that it will make him look particularly attractive. Joshua looks him up and down quickly, before leaning across the bar and tilting his head up to Mingyu. 

“Are you having a nice time at the party so far?” Joshua asks. His smile is small, but it reaches his eyes enough that it makes Mingyu’s shoulders creep up to his ears a little under the attention of it. 

“The party has barely started,” Mingyu says, poking Joshua lightly in the arm. “Namjoon-hyung has only just started to sing.”

“Ah yes,” Joshua says, not looking away. Mingyu wonders what it would be like to just bend down and kiss him, to grab his collar and pull him up so that they’re both leaning across the bar between them, meeting half way. It’s _thrilling_ , the prospect of it. He’s just always loved this part; the beginning of something, the butterflies, the build up and the potential.

“Would you like a drink?” Vernon asks from beside Mingyu. Mingyu glances at him, then glances back to Joshua and grins.

“Oh, yes! Jungkookie made me my own drinks board!” He says excitedly, waving towards it. “Look!”

Joshua straightens up finally and leans back just enough to stare at the board hung on the side beam at the front of the bar. 

**Seokjin and Taehyung’s Celebration of Love** **  
****_Drinks Menu_ **

Beer, ₩8,000

Wine (glass, red or white), ₩12,500

Champagne (glass), ₩16,000

Speciality Cocktail, ₩14,000

 **Mama Didn’t Make Me Gay** _  
__1 shot vodka, 1 shot fireball, 1 shot beer,_ _  
__1 shot red wine, served in a rainbow glass_ _  
__and topped with a sprinkling of pride_  
  


“Fascinating,” Joshua says. “What’s the pride?”

“I spit in it,” Mingyu says, beaming. “I’ve heard that in some cultures that that’s good luck.”

“ _Where?_ ” Vernon asks, but Joshua speaks over him, smile so big that it’s all Mingyu can focus on.

“I’ll have one of those, Mingyu-yah,” he says. Mingyu’s heart feels as though it could burst.

He turns around quickly, grabs his cocktail shaker and starts tossing in the ingredients. He wonders part way through if he should try one of the mid-air shaker spins that Jungkook always does, but then he has a vision of spilling Joshua’s cocktail across the floor and thinks better of it. Namjoon is singing from the other side of the room, a soft and slow song, his voice rolling lowly across the melody. It takes Mingyu a second to realize it’s a cover of an IU song and he starts humming as he finishes up the drink, pouring the mix into one of his own hand blown rainbow colored glass tumblers.

He turns back around to push the drink over to Joshua, who is still staring at him with a look on his face that makes Mingyu feel like the only person on the _planet_.

“Do you like this song?” Joshua says. He sips calmly on the drink, then smiles. “This is delicious.” 

“Thank you, and yes, it’s nice,” he says. He has an urge, suddenly, to jump happily into the air. “Although I’m usually more of a hip hop fan, to be honest,” he admits after a moment. It feels good, this opportunity to let Joshua know a little more of him. He’s keenly aware suddenly that they haven’t really had the opportunity to talk to each other, not in any kind of meaningful way.

He wonders what he might be able to do, to get Joshua alone, to find out everything there is to find out about him and give him glimpses of every facet of Mingyu in return.

“Hip hop?” Joshua asks, blinking. Mingyu nods, grinning. Joshua grins back at him. “I like hip hop too.”

“I love hip hop!” Vernon says and it takes everything within Mingyu to tear his eyes away from Joshua, turn around and smile kindly at him in recognition.

“ _Oh, Seokjin-hyung, look at that board!_ ” 

Mingyu looks around to see Taehyung and Seokjin approaching the bar, Taehyung pointing happily at the drinks board. He smiles charmingly at them both.

“The guests of honor! Allow me to make you both your special cocktail!” He gets to work immediately, mixes two drinks and pours them into two glasses he’d been setting aside specially. The glasses are lines of stained glass in a rainbow formation with beautiful scalloped rims. “ _Bon Apetit!_ ”

“Mingyu-yah, they look really wonderful,” Taehyung gushes. 

“You called them ‘ _Mama didn’t make me gay_ ’...” Seokjin says, staring down at the drinks with wide eyes. He looks overwhelmed and it makes Mingyu press a hand to his own heart in joy.

“It’s a really wonderful tribute to our incredibly gay union, Mingyu-yah,” Taehyung says meaningfully. He wraps his arms around Seokjin. “Thank you.”

“You’re so welcome,” Mingyu says and sucks a breath in, trying very suddenly not to cry.

“I’m so glad you appreciate Mingyu’s work, Tae-Tae,” Joshua says suddenly. He smiles at Mingyu too. This is the best moment of Mingyu’s life, probably. “I see _you_ haven’t said anything complimentary yet, Seokjin-ssi.”

Seokjin looks between them all, then settles his gaze on Joshua, blinking a little furiously. He grabs the glass and finishes the drink in one. He coughs a little, then looks back to the drinks menu.

“What was _in_ that? Oh. Everything.” He looks back at Joshua, then at Mingyu. “Two more please, Mingyu-yah.”

Joshua continues to stare at Seokjin; by the time Mingyu has finished making the drinks, they’re still locked in their quiet stare-off. 

“Delicious,” Seokjin says finally. He grabs another drink and finishes it in two quick gulps, then slams the glass back onto the bar. “Just what I needed. If you could just… Keep those coming.”

“And wine for me please, Mingyu-yah,” Taehyung adds happily. 

“Anything for the guest of honor, Seokjin-ssi!” Mingyu says happily. Finally, he’s doing something right, he thinks. _Finally_.

**\--**

**_Part Four: Kim Seokjin_ **

As Namjoon starts to sing a particularly mournful rendition of _Rewrite The Stars,_ Seokjin and Taehyung make their way to a large table up at the front of the room, Seokjin’s arms filled with as many of Mingyu’s cocktails as he can carry. 

He sits down next to Jungkook, who is talking animatedly to Yoongi and sipping on a beer. 

“Have you seen what’s in those things?” Yoongi asks, looking over at Seokjin and nodding towards the glasses. “At home we call that ‘trash juice’-”

“Seokjin-hyung can handle his drink better than any of us,” Taehyung says obstinately. He pauses for a moment, then adds, “except Jimin.” Seokjin reaches over to put a hand on his thigh, rubs his thumb gently over the seam of his jeans. He’s not sure how to explain to Yoongi that their wedding planner terrifies him so much that he’s trying to drink himself into feeling less fearful. Is that really something a person should admit out loud?

Jungkook snorts. “Remember the drinking contest last year? Hoseok-hyung almost _died_.”

“Why are you talking about me behind my back?” Hoseok says suddenly, approaching Jungkook’s chair from behind and wrapping him up in a hug. 

“Because you almost died!” Jungkook yells. 

“Oh, sorry Jimin-ah, I told Joshua he could sit next to me,” Taehyung says suddenly. Seokjin spins around to look at Taehyung, who is staring sorrowfully up at Jimin. 

“What?” Seokjin asks.

“The tables seat eight and there’s only seven of us, hyung,” Taehyung says, glancing at him. “Besides, Joshua doesn’t know anyone else yet.”

“Wouldn’t this be the perfect opportunity?” Seokjin says, grabbing one of the cocktails in front of him and gulping half of it down in one. Taehyung simply smiles at him, then turns back to Jimin.

“You should sit next to Hoseok-hyung,” Taehyung says. 

“Well obviously I’m going to sit next to Hoseok-hyung,” Jimin replies, sniffing. He wanders over and tugs at Hoseok’s sleeve. “Hyung, my best friend is leaving me for a _demon._ ”

Hoseok looks at Jimin, a nervous look on his face. Seokjin wonders if Hoseok also realizes that Joshua Hong is the most terrifying man alive. 

“Hoseok-ah, sit next to hyung,” Yoongi says, pulling out the chair beside him. Hoseok glances over at Yoongi, then Jungkook, then back to Yoongi, then finally up to the stage.

“Where’s Namjoonie sitting?” Hoseok asks. Namjoon is still singing, slow and sorrowful, underneath the chatter of the room.

“Uh…” Yoongi starts to say, glancing a Jungkook.

“He should sit next to you, hyung,” Jungkook says happily. “Hoseok-hyung, leave a space for Namjoon-hyung.”

“Hello, friends,” Joshua says, so suddenly that it makes Seokjin jump in his chair. He reaches out and finishes his drink, watching helplessly as Taehyung gets up and pulls Joshua’s chair out for him. 

Hoseok and Jimin are still staring at the chairs in front of them.

“Wait…” Jimin says slowly. “If Namjoon-hyung sits next to Yoongi-hyung and Hoseok-hyung sits next to Namjoon-hyung, then that means I am sitting next to-”

“Hoseok-hyung, yes,” Taehyung says, at the exact same time as Hoseok whispers, “ _Joshua._ ”

“NO THANK YOU-” Jimin yells. Hoseok reaches out and starts pulling at Jimin’s sleeve. 

“Jimin-ah, why don’t you sit next to Yoongi-hyung!” Hoseok says, sitting in the middle empty seat.

“I mean, if you think for a second that I’m sitting next to _that_ -”

“Jimin-ah, I think we can let bygones be bygones,” Joshua says serenely. 

“I do _not_ think-” Jimin starts to say, before Taehyung leaps out of his chair and marches over to where Jimin is still standing. He pulls Jimin away and Seokjin watches them go. Taehyung has the most attractive back Seokjin has ever seen. 

He stares at the two of them as they talk heatedly. Taehyung looks frustrated for a moment, but then Jimin is moving in to wrap his arms around him, so Seokjin figures that they’ll be ok. He keeps staring at them as they pull away a little and keep talking; it’s hard, Seokjin has realized, to _not_ look at Taehyung once you start. If you can stare at Kim Taehyung, he thinks, then what’s the point of staring at anything or anyone else.

“ _Hem hem_.”

Someone clears their throat from beside him and Seokjin swings around without thinking, manners automatically kicking in. As he comes face to face with Joshua Hong’s face, looking directly at him, he starts to realize his own mistake.

Fuck.

“Joshua!” He says cheerfully. His mouth feels a little sticky, like it’s hard to open and close properly. He grabs his glass and realizes it’s empty, then reaches a little further for another cocktail, takes a large gulp.

“I wanted to ask Tae-Tae, but he seems busy,” Joshua says cryptically. 

“Ask him what? Ask him how he got that beautiful?” Seokjin says loudly, before he can think better of it. He’s starting to wonder if maybe he’s a little drunk. He takes another sip of the drink.

“...No,” Joshua says, blinking. “About, uh…” he waves a hand towards the stage, to where Namjoon is performing. He doesn’t once break eye contact with Seokjin. Seokjin refuses to look away, feeling a little as though he’s been challenged to a game without his knowledge or consent. A _dangerous_ game. “The performer-”

“Namjoon-hyung,” Jungkook provides, from Seokjin’s other side.

“Right. Namjoon-hyung,” Joshua says blandly. “What’s his deal?”

“His _deal?_ ” Yoongi asks. He sounds sceptical. “It’s _Namjoon’s Diva Tribute Night._ ”

Seokjin glances up at the stage. Namjoon has his eyes closed, his lips pressed up to the microphone. He’s moved on to Madonna’s Material Girl, but the slowest rendition Seokjin has ever heard, Namjoon singing quietly to the room with his mouth pressed into a frown.

“ _We are living in a material world…_ ” Seokjin wonders briefly if he’s trying to make a comment on the pain of Capitalism. 

“Does he know any hip hop?” Joshua is asking. Seokjin glances back at him; he looks curious. Too curious. Seokjin feels terror in his heart, for himself and for Namjoon both. He takes another sip of his drink.

“Namjoon-hyung? He’s a rapper!” Jungkook says excitedly.

Yoongi makes a strange noise. “Well,” he scoffs. “Well…. Sure. That’s what he says.”

“You must have heard his stuff, hyung,” Jungkook says, grinning. “It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever _seen_.”

“I’m thirsty. Is anyone thirsty?” Yoongi says, pushing his chair away suddenly and standing up.

“No,” Seokjin answers, sipping from his drink and smiling up at Yoongi’s pretty face. So pretty. Not as pretty as Taehyung’s, but then nothing could be. Paintings aren’t as pretty as Taehyung. Seokjin is the luckiest man in the world. 

Yoongi blinks at him.

“Maybe you should cool it on the _Mama Didn’t Make Me Gay_ ’s, huh?” Yoongi says. Jungkook snorts.

Hoseok starts giggling too, suddenly. “Mingyu said he came up with the name after staring at Seokjin-hyung and Taehyung,” he says, pointing at Seokjin’s face. Seokjin smiles serenely at him. 

“Taehyung said it’s to celebrate our big, gay love,” Seokjin reaffirms. He stumbles a little over the words, but he thinks his point gets across, because Hoseok is still laughing. The sound of it makes Seokjin laugh in turn. 

“It sure is, hyung,” Jungkook says, slapping Seokjin on the back gleefully.

“Can we bring it back to Namjoon-ssi, please?” Joshua says. Seokjin had forgotten Joshua was even there. _The drinks are working_ , he thinks, so he takes yet another big, much happier gulp.

“Namjoon-hyung’s rapping, you mean? Ask him about his mix tape when he has his break,” Jungkook gushes. 

“Jungkook-ah, come help hyung get a drink,” Yoongi says all at once, tapping the back of Jungkook’s chair. “Your glass is empty.”

Seokjin looks at Jungkook’s glass of beer that is still very much half full, then watches as Yoongi picks it up and knocks back the beer in one.

“Don’t you hate beer?” He asks, blinking.

“Lets get drinks, Jungkook-ah!” Yoongi says again, ignoring Seokjin. Jungkook giggles.

“Ok, ok,” he says, getting up, poking Yoongi affectionately in the leg as he does. “Hyung, are you paying?” He has his back to Seokjin, but Seokjin knows exactly what facial expression Jungkook is giving Yoongi; eyes big and wide, face the picture of sweet innocence because he knows no one is going to say ‘no’ to him. It’s a face that has cost Seokjin a lot of money over the years. 

Yoongi’s even more screwed, because Seokjin isn’t even in love with Jungkook. Seokjin snorts, then quickly takes another drink to cover it up. 

“Of course,” Yoongi says quietly. “Anything you want.”

They start to walk away and Seokjin realizes they’re going to pass Taehyung and Jimin and so, without thinking, yells after them, “Bring Taehyung back with you!” 

Taehyung looks up and grins at Seokjin and Seokjin feels all at once as light as a feather, like he could float to the ceiling and move around in circles like the colored disco lights.

**\--**

**_Part Five: Joshua Hong_ **

Joshua spends his time at the party sitting quietly, waiting for Kim Namjoon (favorite color red) to finish his performance. 

Mingyu likes hip hop. It’s the only think he can think about, as Kim Namjoon performs a rendition of _Dumb Dumb_ that sounds more suitable for a funeral procession than it does a tribute to Red Velvet. Joshua is going to have his work cut out for him, he realizes, if he plans to move Kim Namjoon away from _Depression Anthems: The Stage Show_ and further towards some fun and exciting hip hop. 

He sighs and runs a finger around the rim of his glass. 

When Kim Namjoon finishes up his song, he says a low ‘thank you’, then pushes himself up and leaps off the stage, walking straight towards their table. Squirrely bartender waves him down and points him towards the seat between him and Joshua, thankfully. Perhaps squirrely bartender has some uses after all. 

Kim Taehyung has finally returned; he’s sitting on Joshua’s other side and quietly taking care of his fiancé, who is more intoxicated than Joshua has ever seen a human man become. And Joshua works at weddings. Joshua has _seen_ intoxication.

Jimin is sitting on the other side of the table, alternating between scrolling quietly through his phone and looking up, staring with big stupid eyes at squirrely bartender. Beefy bartender and the man who dresses in the Snoopy suit are still gone, presumably buying drinks. From Mingyu.

 _Mingyu_.

Joshua is certain he’s never felt this way about anyone. He’s not one to question the universe too much, but he’s a little amazed at how quickly he had felt so completely _enamored_. It’s just that Mingyu has a smile that could brighten two galaxies and he helps people do things without billing them and Joshua still has not been able to deduce what his favorite color is yet. He must be the most enigmatic man in the universe. Perhaps in any universe. 

Kim Namjoon sits down. He is staring at the two empty chairs at the table as though they have personally wronged him. Joshua immediately sees the problem.

Joshua is excellent at reading people - he always has been, he always will be. He can _always_ understand the problem.

“Where are they?” Kim Namjoon says quietly, looking at squirrely bartender. Squirrely bartender cocks his head, sighs like he’s fed up.

“Namjoon-ah, don’t start this-”

“No! No, I haven’t started anything! This wasn’t me, Hoseok-ah. This was all Yoongi-hyung.”

“Didn’t you guys make a deal? That you could both pursue Jungkook?” Squirrely bartender’s voice is quiet, as if he doesn’t want anyone else on the table to hear their conversation. Joshua cannot understand why they wouldn’t have just moved away if they hadn’t wanted eavesdroppers and so, on principle, does not stop listening in.

“Yes! Yes! But… but I didn’t think…” Kim Namjoon shakes his head a little. “They looked so happy together.”

“They’re friends,” Squirrely bartender says flatly. “Besides, you knew losing was a possibility when you agreed to this stupid plan.”

“Yeah. Yeah, but… I didn’t think it would hurt this much.” Kim Namjoon’s face looks mournful again and Joshua sees his end goal move further out of reach with every despondent sigh. This is the opposite of what he needs. How can a depressed man play hip hop? 

“Pardon me for cutting in, but this is… Well. Some would say this is my expertise,” Joshua says smoothly. 

“What?” Jimin says flatly, staring at him with cold eyes. They used to stare at one another like this before they made love. Incredible.

“I work in the business of love, Jimin-ssi,” Joshua says, folding his hands in front of him. “And I see that you, Namjoon-ssi, are in need of guidance.”

Kim Namjoon stares at Joshua, eyes wide, before shaking his head sceptically. “Thanks, but I think we’ve got this, uh…”

“Why don’t you focus on the wedding you’re being _paid_ to plan?” Jimin says. Joshua ignores him and smiles a little wider.

“Are you really just going to let him win? Perhaps you’re not as invested as you thought you were.”

“What?” Kim Namjoon says quietly.

“ _What?_ ” Squirrely bartender says, much louder. 

“I think you need to be a little more upfront about your feelings. That’s the only way you’re going to really know that you’ve given it your best shot.”

“I mean…” Kim Namjoon starts to say. He’s staring at the table, but Joshua can tell that he’s thinking what Joshua _wants_ him to think. He’s being moulded like putty. 

“Consider, for instance, hip hop. That has traditionally been an effective way to really let honesty thrive.”

“...Hip hop?” Namjoon asks. He looks up at Joshua.

“Rap battles? Diss tracks?” Joshua supplies serenely. “Have you ever considered-”

“Yoongi-hyung always says he can rap,” Kim Namjoon says, nodding, “and I’ve heard him before, when he thinks no one is listening and he sounds…” Kim Namjoon’s voice falters a little. “No, but freestyling is different.” He’s muttering now, apparently no longer listening to Joshua. “He says he can do it, but I bet he _sucks_. And he doesn’t even know what I can do. I mean, he’s listened to my mixtape but he doesn’t know…” Kim Namjoon stands up so quickly that his chair goes clattering to the floor. Squirrely bartender jumps from beside him, apparently too preoccupied with staring at Jimin to notice what was happening. 

Kim Namjoon practically runs back to the stage, leaping up onto it in one smooth motion.

“MIN YOONGI,” he yells into the microphone.

“Namjoon-ah-” Squirrely bartender says, standing up frantically. Jimin grabs his sleeve.

“Hyung, don’t get involved,” Jimin starts to say quietly, until he’s cut off by Kim Namjoon, yelling like a man possessed.

“MIN YOONGI, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A RAP BATTLE. SEUNGKWAN-AH, GET THE SECOND MICROPHONE.” 

**\--**

**_Part Six: Min Yoongi_ **

There have been, in Yoongi’s life, only a handful of moments he thinks he would describe as a turning point. His childhood was mostly unremarkable; his parents didn’t have much money, but statistically that’s hardly something that makes a person _special_ , poverty permeating every part of society.

He remembers, though, as clearly as though it had happened yesterday, the first piece of rap music he ever heard. He remembers where he was sitting, the walkman he was using, the fucking _clothes_ he was wearing. He remembers the orange of the early evening sky flooding through his window, his feet digging into his mattress, leaning back in his plastic desk chair, ass hurting a little from the way he’d been sitting in the same spot for hours. 

He remembers discovering rap music and feeling as though he’d discovered an entire planet. 

He remembers rapping in his room, to everything and anything he could get his hands on and then to his own lyrics, terrible to start with and then increasingly better, increasingly something he might actually want to show someone someday.

He remembers thinking about his future, all the things he could do, until his Dad got sick and his Mom got let go of her job and he came crashing back down to a world that was a little more real, a world that needed him to get a job that _paid_.

He thinks about the day he moved to the hotel, met Namjoon, met Hoseok. He thinks about the afternoon he finally convinced Seokjin to give him a DJ residency at the hotel, after supplying him with beer and whining at him a little - the closest he’d ever come to being on a stage with music. Getting to show people music he was passionate about.

He remembers all of it, how monumental all those things had felt. And so, when Namjoon fucking yells at him across the room, demands he get up on stage and prove himself, Yoongi thinks that in ten years he’s going to remember this just as vividly. It feels like a culmination of all of the moments before, albeit in the weirdest possible context he could ever have imagined. Namjoon looks determined, though, and Seungkwan is already running off to the equipment room that exists off to the side of the main club. 

Tomorrow, he’ll sit back and think about how monumental this really is for him, how much of his dreams are coming through all at once and entirely unexpectedly. As it is, when Namjoon yells he finds that he barely has time to even consider it, the implications of what Namjoon’s asking him to do. He finds himself walking across the room before he can even _start_ to think about what he’s doing.

As he clambers on stage, Jungkook running behind him and back to their table, Namjoon looks at him with an expression that is so unimpressed that Yoongi feels a little startled.

“What are you doing?” He asks quietly.

“Getting everything off of my chest,” Namjoon says cryptically, pointing the mic away and smiling, a smile that feels dangerous, like a promise of something Yoongi isn’t sure he wants. “You always said you could rap, didn’t you? Your bedroom is a little different to being on a big boy stage.”

Yoongi sucks a breath in and squints up at Namjoon. 

“If you didn’t think I could do it, then why did you ask me?” He says, before it all clicks in his mind. “You’re trying to make me look bad in front of Jungkook?”

“The only one who can make you look bad is yourself, hyung,” Namjoon says, jumping from foot to foot and stretching his arms like he’s warming up for a physical altercation and not a rap battle.

“Here you go, Yoongi-ssi,” Seungkwan says, pulling himself gracefully up onto the stage and handing Yoongi a mic. “Gentlemen, let’s make this a fair fight,” he adds, leaning into Yoongi’s mic. The crowd cheers, apparently all on board with the surprise show.

Yoongi keeps staring up at Namjoon unblinkingly.

“You really wanted to get me to do something you thought I’d suck at, just so I’d look bad in front of Jungkook?” He asks again quietly. He can’t work out if he’s hurt or irritated or _both_.

“I just think we should be able to speak freely to one another,” Namjoon says, smiling placidly. “Get it all off our chests. This isn’t about Jungkook, this is about _us_.”

Yoongi feels his heart in his chest, the way it starts beating a little harder. He can feel it in his throat - nerves, or anxiety, or _fury_ , or something else he can’t even put his finger on.

“Fuck you,” he says, entirely unplacidly, because he doesn’t know how to say all the other things that his brain is _yelling_. _You think I can’t do it_ and _you think you’re going to walk all over me._ “Seungkwan, start the beat.”

Seungkwan clears his throat and disappears from the periphery of Yoongi’s vision. He hears a track of some kind, a 4/4 beat that’s basic enough for anyone to follow, sees Namjoon open his mouth and then fucking dives in first. 

He sees Namjoon’s eyes widen, then morph into something a little awed and it’s too nice, it’s too nice an expression for how mad Yoongi feels, so Yoongi goes _harder_ , moves close enough that he could shove Namjoon if he wanted, gets entirely in his face and then backs away furiously. 

He gets a verse out, one fucking _flawless_ verse, before Namjoon jumps in and-

Ok. 

Yoongi knew - it’s not like Yoongi _didn’t_ know - that Namjoon could rap. He has known Namjoon for years now, he has heard Namjoon’s mixtape of incredible fucking songs, has heard Namjoon rap along to music, he’s heard it.

So then it’s a little difficult to explain why Namjoon suddenly in Yoongi’s face, aggressively freestyling, verbally _destroying_ Yoongi, makes Yoongi’s whole heart stop in his chest. 

The lights on the stage are bright, bright enough to make the rest of the room dark. They’re hot too and that must be why Yoongi can feel a bead of sweat run slowly down his forehead, why he can suddenly notice the dampness at the base of Namjoon’s neck, around the sharp lines of his clavicle. He stares at it for a moment and imagines what it would be like to run a finger down it, to feel the sticky soft skin underneath.

It’s stupidly distracting, but then Yoongi hears Namjoon use a phrase that is an extended metaphor with at least two extra meanings that he apparently has come up with off the top of his fucking head and Yoongi has to jump back in before things get even more out of hand.

He tries to focus on what he’s saying. He’s good at this, he knows he is, but Namjoon’s face is doing all sorts of complicated things and his breath is heavy and the lights are hot and Yoongi’s heart is beating so stupidly fast and ok, Namjoon has just said at least seven hurtful things about Yoongi, but he’s also trying not to smile. Yoongi can tell, can see the corners of his mouths edging upwards with every new line Yoongi spits out. If he laughs, Yoongi is a goner, he’s a fucking goner, he’s not going to be able to hold it in. 

It’s just that they’re on stage and everything is that sticky, burning level of hot and Yoongi’s heart feels so, so light, like a carefully constructed paper aeroplane, like one of those paper aeroplanes designed by engineers and folded to precision so that they can loop through the sky, swing around rooms without hitting the walls. He feels like his insides are floating through the air on a carefully planned trajectory, like his body might as well be flying along with it.

He stumbles over a word finally and Namjoon jumps in, covers the mistake and he’s still trying not to laugh and Yoongi starts to smile because he can’t _help_ it. He can’t fucking _help it_.

And then Namjoon mentions the Snoppy suit and Yoongi stops him mid-line, jumps into a verse instead and absolutely does not hold back, because _fuck_ Kim Namjoon. 

**\--**

**_Part Seven: Kim Taehyung_ **

There’s something about rap music, Taehyung thinks, that makes it feel like the most exhilarating sound in the world. Namjoon and Yoongi are on stage, both jumping around and staring directly at one another, like maybe they’ve forgotten anyone else is in the room and giving it their everything. Taehyung doesn’t listen to rap usually - it’s not something he thought would be his speed, not when he spends most of his time listening to jazz, to smooth RnB, but this is _life changing_.

It’s the best thing Taehyung has ever seen. 

Taehyung has spent months, since the day he and Seokjin had decided to plan a wedding really, imagining Namjoon singing them sweetly off into married life. He had thought that _that_ was his ideal plan. He had thought that nothing could be more romantic. As he stands at the bar with Seokjin, however, propping him up against the front of it and slowly feeding him water, he knows how wrong he was.

This is the perfect send off.

“Tae-Tae.”

Taehyung glances over and sees Joshua approaching slowly, smiling at him.

“Are you listening to this? They sound incredible, don’t they?” Taehyung says, because he can’t help himself and because Seokjin is a little beyond words that aren’t gushing about Taehyung’s beauty.

Not that Taehyung is complaining about that. It really has only added to the romantic atmosphere of the room.

“It’s so cool,” Mingyu agrees from behind the bar. Vernon gives an impressed hum in agreement.

“Oh… yeah,” Joshua says, smiling wistfully up at the stage. “Yeah. I suggested it, actually.” Joshua looks at Taehyung and then back, to where Mingyu is. 

“You suggested it?” Mingyu repeats.

“Hip hop,” Joshua says simply, waving his arms out to the side as if presenting something.

“Hip hop…” Mingyu says, voice quiet.

Taehyung almost goes to hug Joshua, before he realizes that Seokjin probably can’t stand by himself and so hugs Seokjin instead, sticking an arm out to pat Joshua’s elbow.

“Thank you,” he says meaningfully. “For doing this for Seokjin-hyung and I. I think I speak for both of us when I say that it is everything we’ve ever wanted…” He trails off to listen again to what’s happening on the stage, as Yoongi brutally insults Namjoon’s family dog and his piano playing skills in the space of two lines. Incredible.

“Yeah. Thank you, hyung,” Mingyu says quietly. Taehyung isn’t sure why Mingyu should be thankful, but he feels magnanimous enough to not say anything and instead cuddles further into Seokjin, staring up at the bright lights of the stage.

**\--**

**_Part Eight: Jeon Jungkook_ **

Jungkook has spent _years_ with Namjoon and Yoongi. He has years of their friendship, years of cherished memories, years of counting them as two of the people he can truly rely on in his life.

It’s astounding, then, that he’s now watching them perform on stage and he’s _never been hornier_. 

The beat is vibrating so heavily through the floor that Jungkook thinks he might be able to feel it through his shoes, if the soles weren’t inches thick. They’re panting, staring at one another - they look, Jungkook muses as Namjoon strips his dinner jacket off of his body and throws it to the floor, like they’re about to fuck live on stage. 

It’s just that Jungkook has never been so close to anything so _heated_ before. He doesn’t really… he doesn’t really meet people at work. The hotel is filled with families and their kids, not hot single guys looking for someone to love and cherish forever and the staff are all people Jungkook sees as closer than family. As cherished friends. So why now is he having to shuffle his chair further under the club table to avoid anyone somehow noticing how hard he is.

God, Yoongi just called Namjoon’s rhymes weak. He’s running a hand through his hair now, licking his lips in a way that ends with him catching part of his cupid’s bow, pressing it down against his teeth with his tongue and then pulling his tongue away and ok, Jungkook needs water. Jungkook feels like he’s been dead for twenty four years and has only just been woken up, he feels like someone has thrown an entire tub full of water over him but in a really sexy way. 

Namjoon is inching towards Yoongi and smiling a little and Yoongi is looking up at him and Jungkook wonders, if he closes his eyes, if he might be able to picture himself pressed in between them, with barely enough room to move, their bodies locking his limbs into one place.

As the track ends, they stand there panting, still staring at one another and Jungkook glances down at his crotch, tries to will his dick to go _down_ so that he can stand _up_ and _applaud_ them like they _deserve_. Taehyung is yelling happily from the back of the room though and Jimin and Hoseok are both leaping out of their seats to clap, so Jungkook thinks he can maybe get away with still sitting.

He claps loudly, as loud as he can, throws in a few whooping noises for good measure, until Yoongi finally clambers down from the stage, Namjoon close behind him.

They’re coming over, Jungkook realizes, and then he’s panicking, heart racing so hard he’s afraid it might just jump out of his mouth. They’re steps away when Jungkook jumps up, blurts out a garbled message to the table at large about the bathroom, turns around and _runs_.

He doesn’t stop, not until he has successfully locked himself in a cubicle in a bathroom across the other side of the hotel, far enough away that he can only just about hear the soft bass of a song playing, can barely even hear the chatter of people. He takes a breath in and out, closes his eyes, tries to let the quiet wash over him. 

He can’t go back in there.

He pulls his phone out from his pocket and stares at the screen, the screen light looking a little blurry in the haze of beer and the way his eyes are still adjusting after having been in the dark of the club for hours. He starts typing out a message for Taehyung, fingers pausing over words as he tries to work out what he can even _say_.

_Hey hyung, I’m so sorry, I have to bail. I’ll explain tomorrow. Nothing is wrong. It’s just a..._

_Long story._

It’s better than ‘ _hey hyung, sorry, I think I want to have sex with two of my closest friends_ ’, he supposes. Mere minutes pass before his phone buzzes quietly in reply.

_It’s ok, Jungkook-ah. Do what you have to do._

_I love you!_

_I should put Seokjin-hyung to bed now anyway. He’s so cute. Besides, what could beat Namjoonie-hyung and Yoongi-hyung doing that, right?_

Jungkook stares down at his phone and takes another breath in and out, then watches as another message pops up on his phone.

_Seokjin-hyung says he’ll never forgive you if you leave without giving him a goodnight hug, but I’ll tell him you can just give him one in the morning._

Jungkook smiles.

_Thanks hyung. Good luck getting him into bed._

The reply this time is almost instantaneous.

_Please._

Jungkook snorts quietly. He lets himself sit in the stall for a moment longer, enjoying the security and peace of the locked door. He should just walk home, he thinks. He should just walk home and take a really cold shower and then get into bed and hopefully dream of something other than being railed by two insanely hot rappers. 

God. God, this is the life he wants.

He manages to give himself a pep talk that takes him all the way out of the bathroom, out of the hotel and into the hot evening air. The hotel is covered in warm floor lights that illuminate the carefully landscaped plants, the sides of the buildings, the weaving stone pathways. He follows one path up, goes the long way around to avoid the pool area because it feels too close to the club, too close to _Yoongi and Namjoon_. 

As he starts to walk back to the apartment complex, he feels the vibration of his phone in his pocket and his heart presses uneasily against his chest as he pulls it out to see who is messaging him. It’s like a wave of relief when he sees it’s Hoseok and he opens the message quickly.

_where did you go?_

_are you ok?_

Hoseok is a good friend, he thinks. As he thinks this, he remembers Hoseok’s plan to talk to Jimin and feels like maybe he, conversely, is maybe the worst friend.

_Going to bed. Hyung did you get to speak to Jimin?_

The sounds of the crickets and the soft rustle of the leaves in the gentle evening breeze grow louder as Jungkook reaches the staff gate, pushing it open slowly, as though if he makes too much noise he’ll be caught, chased down by Yoongi and Namjoon, forced to give an explanation.

As his mind starts to take that thought in a much dirtier direction than he’d anticipated, his phone buzzes again.

_< 3_

_i had a plan but it didn’t really work out_

_but something happened earlier_

_i’m going to try again though. on the walk home_

Jungkook wonders very suddenly if he too has that sort of courage. 

_Good luck hyung x_

Hoseok doesn’t text back until Jungkook is in his apartment, door closed mercifully between him and the rest of the world. 

_Thanks Jungkook-ah. Have a nice night._

Jungkook sighs. _I’ll try_ , he thinks, as he heads directly into the bathroom and turns the shower on, cranking the temperature down as low as the dial can go.

**\--**

**_Part Nine: Jung Hoseok_ **

Hoseok thinks, if he’s going to be objective about proceedings, that he is dealing with the fallout of everything he and Jimin have gone through today rather… poorly.

It feels a little like a rollercoaster in ways that life with Jimin never really has before, in ways that are that familiar mixture of terrifying and exhilarating, sure, but more vivid, more real, more dangerous. Like every rise and fall of the track is equally the best and most fear-inducing feeling in the entire world.

He registers, abstractly, that Joshua once again has managed to squash his plans - Namjoon never did get to sing his song for Jimin, Hoseok never got to ask Jimin to dance, the evening of romantic songs switched out for his best friends performing an endless stream of rap music, all because of Joshua. Hoseok can’t work out if it even matters, really. If the Joshua thing is just… all in his head.

It’s just that Joshua wasn’t in Seokjin’s office with Jimin. Hoseok was. Jimin had looked at Hoseok, Jimin always looks at Hoseok, with the biggest and happiest eyes. “ _You’re the only one that I want,_ ” isn’t that what Jimin had said? Even if Jimin is still attracted to Joshua, Hoseok can pinpoint two, four, ten times just today when he could swear Jimin was attracted to him just as much. More? 

It feels real, all of a sudden. Hoseok sits at the table and watches Namjoon and Yoongi perform together, Jimin sitting quietly next to them, neither of them talking or even looking at one another. Hoseok is focusing on the stage, moving back and forth in his chair, applauding, but his brain feels like it’s melting, like all of his thoughts have slipped out of something coherent and puddled together in one big soup of chaos. He thinks about Jimin putting a hand on his wrist, Jimin hugging him tightly, Jimin locking eyes with him, staring at him like he might be able to find something meaningful in Hoseok’s own gaze. He thinks about the ‘ _I love you_ ’s, the ‘ _husband_ ’s, the ‘ _you’re the only one that I want_.’

He thinks that maybe Joshua isn’t the thing standing in his way, Joshua isn’t the reason why Hoseok hasn’t just _said_ it. Joshua isn’t to blame for Hoseok and his scared, weak heart.

Eventually, Namjoon and Yoongi close their accidental set out - they’ve been taking requests all night, mostly from the staff. The music switches, party music coming through over the speaker. Hoseok glances down at his watch - 15 minutes to midnight. The club still has about an hour left of music to play and drinks to serve, but Hoseok doesn’t think he can wait that long.

He takes a deep breath in.

“Hyung?” Jimin’s speaks directly into his ear, just loud enough that Hoseok can hear him over the music. Hoseok glances over at him. His mouth hangs open a little, he thinks maybe he’s just forgotten how to fucking _speak_ , but Jimin under the revolving disco lights, face moving in and out of shadows and lit up like a firework, is the most beautiful person he’s ever seen.

“Hyung?” Jimin repeats, after Hoseok doesn’t say anything. “I’m tired. Do you want to walk back with me?”

Jimin never gets tired. Hoseok knows that about Jimin because everyone knows that about Jimin; he can stay up until the early hours of the morning, catch a few hours and then get up and force himself valiantly through the day. Jimin doesn’t leave parties early.

Hoseok glances around quickly. “What about-”

“Taehyungie took Seokjin-hyung home a little while ago,” Jimin says quickly. “It’s ok, we can go whenever.”

“Ok,” Hoseok says, trying to ignore how incredibly out of his depths he suddenly feels. “Let’s go.”

They make their way out; Hoseok waves a hand goodbye to Namjoon and Yoongi, who both look a little like Hoseok feels, then gets pulled out of the door, through the staff hallway and finally out into the night air. 

Jimin slides his hand down Hoseok’s arm, from where it has been gripping his sleeve and Hoseok reaches up to slide their fingers together, to press Jimin’s palm into his. They walk in silence, through the hotel and out towards the staff gate and all Hoseok can think, over all the panicked noise in his head, is that he has no fucking clue what he’s doing.

They start to make their way across the tarmac, when Hoseok stops. In his chest, he can feel that cold, anxious, terrified bubble. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, or whether he’s doing the right thing, or whether this will ruin _everything_. He doesn’t _know_ and that is so terrifying that if he thinks about it for a second too long, he knows he’ll chicken out and run away again.

Except for the fact that. if he doesn’t say anything to Jimin immediately, he thinks he’ll burst into a million tiny, Hoseok-shaped pieces.

“Jimin-ah,” he says, tugging Jimin’s hand to a stop. Jimin twists to look at Hoseok; one of the pathway lights overhead illuminates a stripe across his eyes and the bridge of his nose, dipping a little way down his right cheek. The moonlight overhead is bright, bright enough that it falls across Jimin’s entire body. Hoseok thinks he might be everything anyone could ever want.

“Are you ok?” Jimin asks, blinking.

“We didn’t really get to speak very much today,” Hoseok says quietly, unsure of how else to start, what words he needs to use to lead into it. 

Jimin smiles at him. “You should come by the Kids Club tomorrow,” he says. “It’s your afternoon off, isn’t it? We’re watching Frozen 2.”

Hoseok giggles, a little too loud at first for how quiet the air feels around them; he has to adjust his volume quickly so as to not disturb the peace of the night.

“You want me to come watch Frozen 2 with you?”

Jimin shrugs. “Or we can sit at the back and talk, whatever you want. The kids never pay much attention when there’s a movie on. Especially not Frozen 2.”

“Will you sing all of the songs for me?” Hoseok says, pulling at Jimin’s arm so that he moves a step closer, bringing them so close together that Hoseok can’t quite see Jimin’s whole face anymore. Jimin laughs.

“I don’t know the songs, hyung,”

“Yes you do! You do!” Hoseok insists. “ _Into the unknoooown-_ ” Jimin laughs so hard that he shoves Hoseok back a little, then brings him close again, clutching at his shoulders. Hoseok laughs too, tries desperately to keep his voice down and ends up having to press his mouth into Jimin’s shoulder for a moment, just to muffle it.

Jimin’s laughter dies out eventually though and then so does Hoseok’s, leaving them standing in silence under the moonlight, Jimin’s arms around Hoseok and Hoseok’s face pressing into the warm line of Jimin’s shoulder. Hoseok swallows, takes a breath in, then straightens up, enough so that he can see Jimin’s face.

Jimin tilts his head just enough, so that he can look back and Hoseok thinks fuck it. Fuck it, who needs build up. What is he waiting for? Hasn’t he waited long enough? He could kiss Jimin now, he thinks - he could lean in and kiss Jimin now and everything would be ok. Everything would work out ok.

“Jimin-ah,” he says softly.

“ _Jimin-ah!_ ” 

Jimin breaks eye contact with Hoseok and looks behind him. Hoseok twists around too, squints in the darkness to see Joshua Hong, jogging across the path towards them both.

“Jimin-ah, I’m glad I found you. Why weren’t you answering your phone?”

Jimin blinks. His hands fall from Hoseok’s shoulders. “I was just-”

“It doesn’t matter. There’s a best man related emergency. Moss. I can’t-” Joshua glances at Hoseok suspiciously. “I can’t say more than that. Taehyung needs you.”

“Taehyung’s asleep,” Jimin says flatly.

“Yes and do you want me to wake him up, or will you come and help me instead?”

“It’s midnight,” Hoseok says, squinting at Joshua. “What could you need to do at midnight?”

“That is top secret wedding information that you are not privy to. A wedding that is five days away.”

Jimin’s chest moves up and down a little; Hoseok tracks the movement of it as he blinks at Joshua, then nods resolutely.

“Fine. I’ll help, if Taehyung needs me,” he says. He glances back at Hoseok, who quickly drags his eyes up from Jimin’s chest to his face. “I’ll see you tomorrow hyung? We’ll pick up where we left off?”

Hoseok doesn’t really know what else to do but nod.

Jimin nods back at him, a little frantically, then walks around, to follow Joshua who has already started walking back to the hotel. Jimin walks backwards for a moment, staring at Hoseok as he moves.

“I’m sorry, hyung!” He calls. Hoseok smiles at him.

“Hope everything is ok,” he says. Jimin smiles back.

“Good night hyung.” Hoseok nods again.

He stays outside, staring at Jimin’s retreating back as it disappears into the dark of the night, until the moment he hears the telltale creak of the staff gate swing shut.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u thank u as always to [alex](https://twitter.com/murderoustannie) and [kate](https://twitter.com/illegirling) for looking over this for me. find me on twitter [@junghomobi](https://twitter.com/junghomobi).

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you as always to [Kate](https://twitter.com/illegirling) & [Alex](https://twitter.com/murderoustannie) for correcting my numerous mistakes and for being generally wonderful.
> 
> Find me on le twt [@junghomobi](https://twitter.com/junghomobi).


End file.
